Intimate Strangers
by ebonyandunicorn
Summary: After months spent living in separate timelines, Nick Cutter and Claudia Brown are finally reunited, but the changes made in Cutter's absence will push him to his limits. When a mysterious girl stumbles through an anomaly, he begins to realise that the challenges are just beginning... for where Nick Cutter goes, someone else always seems to follow.
1. You're going to want to come in

**CLAUDIA**  
The night before Nick Cutter returned, Claudia Brown was plagued by bad dreams.

She dreamed of the Gorgonopsid, the first prehistoric creature she had ever encountered. It attacked her three times: first in the Forest of Dean, then in the Home Office, and finally in the dark rooms of Nick Cutter's house. _His empty house._

She dreamed of anomalies appearing in ridiculous places – her vanity mirror, her fridge, her car. Every time, though she knew – she _knew _– that it was dangerous, foolish, stupid, she would duck her head in through the glittering portal between worlds and call into the blackness beyond, "Hello?"

But there would be no answer.

She dreamed that she was blind again as she had once been in a hotel, and that someone had her by the hand as they ran. She could feel herself being pulled through anomaly after anomaly, the ground beneath her feet one moment grass and the next rock, beating sun followed by freezing rain. At first it was her father who had her hand, and then Helen Cutter – "_You're going to have to trust me_." And at the last the grip on her hand morphed into something cold and clawed, and she heard the terrifying _crrrrk _and knew the creature for what it was.

* * *

She woke to the buzz of her mobile phone.

"Claudia Brown."

"It's Stephen. You're going to want to come in."

Still half lost in her nightmares, Claudia blinked at the clock on the bedside table until it came into focus. _5:52 am. Something big, then. _"What is it?" she asked, slipping out of bed and flicking on the lamp.

"Anomaly." Stephen's reply was terse.

The foreboding feeling in her stomach clenched. "When? Where? Why is it important?"

"It opened ten minutes ago. In the Forest of Dean."


	2. I'll go

**NICK**  
"It opened ten minutes ago. In the Forest of Dean."

Nick Cutter was remembering a time – almost two years ago now – when Connor Temple had entered his office with news of a so-called monster sighting. He had been inches away from throwing the boy out when mention had been made of the Forest of Dean and everything had changed. Back then, the mention of the place was enough to make his stomach churn with grief and hurt. Now, it was happening again. Stephen had read the details off the screen, and a thousand emotions erupted within him. Even as he recoiled with fear from the memory of all that had happened at that place, he was already speaking, already volunteering. Already halfway out the door.

"I'll go," he said. They were standing in the central room of the Anomaly Research Centre (which Cutter still wasn't used to, but that was another matter altogether), in front of Connor's enormous Anomaly Detection Device. All five of them were there – himself, Stephen, Connor, Abby and Lester. All five of them; the five that remained.

One was missing. One would always be missing.

"Cutter –" Stephen began.

"I said, I'll go." He turned his back on the rest of them and began to walk out, ignoring Lester's protests about _proper protocol _and _a matter of national security_. It was happening more and more frequently; an anomaly would appear and he would set off to deal with it himself, often passing in and out of them to help the creatures home. Usually Stephen and Lester and the military had caught up by then, but they could do nothing short of physically restrain Cutter to prevent him from moving in and out of the anomalies. The thrill that he got from passing through doorways in time was indescribable. He thrived on it.

And, of course, there was always that chance. The slimmest of chances, it may have been, but it was there – the chance to bring her back. Maybe, just maybe, if he went through enough anomalies, he could reverse the changes he had somehow made a year ago. Re-alter the timeline. Return her to his world, his life.

_Claudia Brown. _He had thought of her almost constantly over the past twelve months. There had been the initial shock to cope with – adjusting to a new timeline, their new headquarters, the knowledge of his wife's affair with his best friend – but she had always been there, lurking in the back of his mind. At first, he had tried to explain her to the Connor and Abby and Lester and Stephen he knew here, but he had quickly realised the futility of it. Nobody who didn't know Claudia could fully understand. He wasn't even sure that he understood, some of the time.

Simpler by far to keep it to himself. The depths of his feelings, the true reason for his constant excursions through the anomalies – he kept them locked tightly away in the same part of himself that had avoided thinking too hard about Helen for eight long years. There were new creatures to investigate, new crises to prevent. Nick Cutter was busy enough as it was without worrying over a woman who had never even existed.

* * *

He arrived at the forest before six.

He'd taken a long enough glance at the detector screen to know that this was the same anomaly that he had emerged from into a new timeline six years ago. He'd also replayed the events of that day over and over in his mind enough that he knew exactly how to get to that location. Within half an hour he was standing in front of the shimmering, whispering portal. It had led to the Permian once, and from there into the future. Enormous dinosaurs and terrifying future predators had once emerged from it. There was no telling what would await him on the other side – and whether he would return after finding out.

Without a second thought, Cutter stepped through.


	3. Something's coming through

**CLAUDIA**  
She didn't usually accompany the field team, but this was the first time the Forest of Dean anomaly had opened since... _Well, in a long time, anyway._ As it happened, all of the original members of the team had gathered – herself, Stephen, Connor, Abby and Lester. _All but one._ Despite the fact that she and Lester were with Control and Abby and Connor with Research, despite the fact that Stephen hadn't been on a field mission in over a year, they were all there. Despite the fact that not one of them knew what they were waiting for.

* * *

It had been a very long time and it was turning into a very long day. As the sun climbed lazily higher into the sky, Claudia's anxiousness only increased. The last time she had dreamed of Gorgonopsids and anomalies, it had been the precursor to one of the most harrowing experiences of her life. She dearly hoped history wasn't about to repeat itself.

Connor and Abby were sitting a little way away from the rest of the group, talking quietly to each other. Even from a distance, Claudia knew who it was they would be talking about. Abby had had great respect for him, she remembered, and Connor had practically idolised him, trailing after him like a lost puppy. The memory was almost enough to make Claudia smile.

Almost.

Stephen was sitting beneath a tree, eyeing the field team with a jealous gaze. As they prepped and loaded, checked and double-checked their weapons, Claudia could practically see his fingers twitching with envy. _How long has it been since he went with them? _she wondered. It had to be almost two years. The field team were all new, a curious mix of battle-hardened soldiers and intrepid archaeologists who had been hired in the days after the overhaul of Home Office. There was a medic in amongst them; he had been hired almost two years ago as well.

Claudia turned to look at Lester, but the sun, peeking through a gap in the trees, threatened to blind her. It was almost noon already; they'd spent close to six hours at the anomaly site, waiting for something to come through. Her stomach grumbled. She'd skipped breakfast in her mad rush to make it here as fast as she could.

_For what, though? _There was no sign of any creature, and definitely no sign of... anything else. With a short, frustrated sigh, Claudia got to her feet and strode over to Lester. "This is ridiculous," she said. "We're wasting our time here. We should –"

"Something's coming through!" Stephen shouted.

Claudia turned so fast she felt her neck crack. The anomaly was shifting, expanding and contracting; everyone was backing away in fear of what was to come. They formed a ring around the convulsing anomaly, every one of them holding their breath, the field team holding their guns.

A man stumbled through the anomaly and collapsed onto the ground.

They all started forward at once. Their medic was crouching over him, Connor and Abby were shouting, Stephen was fighting to make his way through. But it was Claudia who forced her way in, falling to her knees before him in the dirt. He struggled to push himself up and look her in the face.

"Claudia Brown," he said, and fainted.


	4. I need to see her

**NICK**  
He woke early in the afternoon with no idea of where he was.

There was a plain grey ceiling above him and grey walls all around. He was lying on one of the room's several beds. There was a needle in his arm, connected to a machine that was beeping softly. On his left, a man he had never seen before was bent over a computer screen, humming softly to himself.

"Where am I?" Cutter's throat felt like it was on fire.

The man turned and smiled. "Ah, you're awake. Hello, Mr Cutter. How are you feeling?"

"It's Professor Cutter, actually," he said with a grimace. "I feel... okay. How did I get here? Everything's a little fuzzy."

"That's to be expected, Professor Cutter," the man replied, reading the screen by Cutter's bedside. He was dressed all in white; he had to be a doctor. "You were extremely dehydrated when we found you. We've been administering fluids intravenously and keeping a close eye on you, though, so you will be fine."

"Thank you." Nick closed his eyes. There was something important he couldn't remember, something that had happened just before he had passed out...

His eyes flew open. "Where's Claudia Brown?"

The doctor paused. "Miss Brown is in her office. She thought it would be best if you were left alone for a little while."

"No, I need to see her," Cutter said flatly, struggling into a sitting position. A dull headache was pounding behind his eyes, making it difficult for him to think. "I need to see Claudia Brown."

"That isn't necessary, Professor Cutter," the doctor said firmly. "You're still very weak, and we'd like to keep you here for monitoring –"

"I need to see Claudia Brown!" he shouted, yanking the needle from his arm. The machine on his right began to give off a low whine. The doctor stepped back in shock.

"Please calm down, Professor Cutter," he said. "It's not advisable for you to –"

"Where is she?" Cutter yelled, shoving back the sheets. He grimaced when he saw that his clothes had been replaced with a green hospital gown, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He placed his feet on the floor, preparing to stand. A wave of nausea washed over him, but he fought it back savagely.

The door opened. "Is everything all right? I heard shouting."

Nick froze. He saw, from the corner of his eye, the doctor hastily cross the room to speak with the person at the door, who was – who was – he couldn't look. If it wasn't her, if his memory and his voice was deceiving him – or worse, what if she didn't remember him? What if he'd crossed into a timeline where _he _didn't exist?

"Please leave us for a moment, Dr Murphy. Yes, we'll be fine."

He still couldn't look at her. He knew that she was walking towards him; he knew that slow, carefully measured tread, the sound of her steps. He heard her switch off the whining machine. He had thought of her almost constantly.

"Lie down, Cutter. I don't want you fainting again."

At last, he forced himself to turn his head. She was there. Standing beside his bed, Claudia Brown was looking down at him with an expression that he couldn't describe, but she was there. He wanted to stand and embrace her, to reach out and grab her hand and reassure himself that it _was_ her, she _was _here... but he could feel his strength waning rapidly and reluctantly obeyed her, slipping back under the sheets. He did not look away from her, though. He stared into her eyes unblinkingly, and she was the first to look away.

"This is the Centre for Anomaly Research and Investigation. You're in the medical bay. You've been here for a few hours now. The man who has been attending to you is Dr Kyle Murphy. He works for us."

"He's new," Cutter commented.

Claudia nodded, then glanced towards the bed. "Do you mind?"

He shook his head, gesturing. She sat, folding her hands in her lap, one over the other, and addressed the opposite wall. "After the... incident with the future predators, we managed to convince the Minister of the severity of the situation, and he gave us a considerable government grant. CARI now employs almost one hundred people in three different divisions: Control, under Sir Lester and myself; Research, under Connor Temple; and Fieldwork, under Captain Alex Jones."

"Not Stephen?" Cutter asked.

Claudia hesitated. "Stephen... no longer participates in fieldwork."

"I see." There was more to that, he knew, but there would be time for that later. He sat up again, slowly, holding his breath until the nausea receded. She glanced at him, and then returned her gaze to the wall. He felt it like a knife in his chest. "Why won't you look at me?"

Her eyes fell to her lap. "It's been a long time, Cutter."

"No," he said, needing her to look at him, needing her to _need_ him. "It's been a year. One year! That's not a long time. Eight years is a long time. Claudia Brown, I have thought of nothing but you every day for the past twelve months. I dreamed of you. I searched for you. I threw myself through every anomaly I could find in the hope that I could find you again and now I'm here. Now I have. It's been a _year_, and you won't even look at me!"

He could see the tears glimmering at the corners of her eyes. He reached out to hold her – and she flinched. She flinched away from him. He felt it as keenly as if she had slapped him across the face.

Now, at last, she met his gaze, and he read confusion there, over and over in her eyes. "You're wrong," she said. "It has been a long time. It's 2009, Cutter. It hasn't been one year. It's been three."


	5. It's been a long time

**CONNOR**  
The Centre for Anomaly Research and Investigation had three separate divisions, and the Research Wing was on the opposite side of the facility to the medical bay. The government had not been stingy with their grant; every member of Research, and there was close to forty of them, had their own office. There were some perks that came with being in charge, though, and Connor Temple's office was twice the size of any other. True to form, he'd filled the extra space with beanbags and a TV.

At that moment, though, he was seated at his desk. Cutter's file was open on his computer screen, and he was reading slowly through it. Every member of CARI had their own file, but his was one of the least-filled. _Status: Missing since 17/03/06_. Connor supposed he would have to update that.

Someone knocked on his door and then entered without waiting for an answer. He glanced up at Abby Maitland and smiled. "What's up?"

"Have you visited him yet?" Abby asked without preamble.

Connor shook his head, the smile fading. "No. He's still down in Medical, maybe even still unconscious. Murphy's going to run all the physical checks, and then I think they want him to see Dr Shepard."

Abby nodded slowly. "It's been a long time," she murmured.

"Yeah. What, three years? Damn." Connor ran a hand through his hair. Three years since Nick Cutter had disappeared through the anomaly in the Forest of Dean with his wife, several military men, and a crate full of baby future predators... and not one of them had ever returned. He remembered waiting for hours as the forest grew dark, his eyes fixed on the anomaly with Stephen and Abby and Claudia and Lester around him. He remembered the terrible moment when it had begun to convulse and they had known it was too late. He remembered Claudia's scream when it had closed. She'd gone back, he knew, the day after and the day after that, waiting for it to reopen. It never had.

Until now.

"What d'you think will happen?" Abby asked, perching herself on the side of his desk.

"What do you mean?"

"With the team, and everything. I mean, Cutter was sort of in charge back then, wasn't he? Now it's you and Lester and Claudia and Alex calling all the shots. Just seems like a lot for him to deal with, that's all."

"What I want to know is how he managed to survive three years on the other side of an anomaly," Connor said softly. "I mean, Abby, that thing led to the Permian Era. Not to mention the predator that followed him through..." He trailed off. "Although, I suppose he was with Helen. She'd know a fair bit about it, seeing's how she did it herself for eight years."

Abby bit her lip. "Con, you don't think...?"

"What?"

"You don't think she'd come back with him, do you?"

Connor's blood ran cold. "No. She couldn't. She can't. I mean, she hasn't yet, has she? Captain Jones and the field team are down there now, monitoring it, and nothing's come through yet."

"Maybe I'll call Alex," Abby said, digging out her mobile. "Just to warn him, you know."

Connor rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right." He tried his best to be civil with Jones, but it was hard when he had just breezed in and snatched Abby up – just like that, when Connor had been trying so hard for months to get her to see him that way. He knew why she fancied him, of course; blue eyes, muscles, nice accent, good with a gun. It didn't make it any easier.

"Huh, that's strange. He's not answering." Abby snapped her phone shut and returned it to her pocket. "Well, I'm gonna head back to my office. Let me know if you hear anything from Murphy, yeah?"

"Sure."

"Thanks, Con. I'll see you soon." She patted his shoulder affectionately and slipped from the room.

Connor sighed and returned to browsing Cutter's file. He read over the status section one more time before deleting and replacing it. _Status: Returned on 21/03/09._


	6. Everything could be different here

**NICK**  
"That's not possible," Nick said flatly.

"Of course it's possible, Cutter," Claudia replied. "It's the truth. You've been gone three years."

"I haven't been gone!" Cutter said furiously. He was struggling to comprehend what was happening, finding it impossible. "I've been working in – in the ARC for over a year, without you. You're the one who's been gone."

"Cutter, I've been here this whole time..."

"No," Cutter said hopelessly. "No, you haven't. When I came out of that anomaly with Helen, you weren't there. You didn't _exist_." He hurled it at her like an insult.

"What do you mean?"

"I changed something in the past and it changed the future. You had never been born. Nobody knew who you were, nobody had ever heard of you. When I came out of that anomaly, you had never existed."

Claudia shook her head hopelessly. "I don't understand..."

Cutter's mouth fell open as he realised the implications.

"Oh, God." His head fell into his hands. "Oh my God." He looked up at Claudia, desperately wanting her to understand. "These anomalies aren't just doorways in time. They're doorways between time_lines_."

"Cutter, what are you saying?"

"There are whole other – whole other _universes_," he said, "in which you and I have never existed. I found one when I went through that anomaly. I entered a different timeline in which you had never been born. I crossed into another one when I came back. Are the others here? Abby, Connor? Stephen?"

"All upstairs."

"I need to see them."

Claudia shook her head. "Not yet. Dr Shepard wants to see you first."

"I don't need another doctor!" Nick yelled. "Don't you understand? I've just entered a timeline that mightn't even be my own. Everything could be different here. This room is different, this building is different, you're – you're _acting_ different – please, I just need to see Abby and Connor and Stephen so that I know they're all okay. So I know I _know _them. Please." He struggled to keep the fear out of his voice. Claudia, he could see, was frightened enough already.

"I'll call them." Claudia stood up and crossed the room to a phone on the wall. She spoke into it with her back to him, but Cutter could read the tension in her back and shoulders. He tried to calm himself down, to take deep breaths and relax, but it was impossible. Nothing was certain anymore.

A small click sounded as Claudia hung up the phone. "They're coming," she said, but she still wouldn't face him.

"Claudia, look at me." He watched as she reluctantly turned around. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice as gentle as he could manage. "I didn't mean to upset you. But you have to understand, I thought I'd lost you. Before I realised what was really happening with the crossing of the timelines, I thought I'd done something to wipe you from my life forever. I couldn't have coped with that."

She nodded. What he wanted, more than anything, was to cross the room and take her in his arms. He wanted to erase the hurt and the grief of long months of absence. He had felt it before, after Helen's disappearance. He hated being the cause of it now.

"Listen to me," he said. "Claudia. I never meant to leave you. If I had the choice again, I would never have gone through that anomaly. I would have stayed with you like I am going to stay with you now. I will never leave you again. Do you understand? I l–"

The door swung open, cutting short his words. Abby and Connor entered the room and approached the bed. Claudia, he saw, was crying again, and slipped from the medical bay before he could say anything more.


	7. Like I betrayed him

**CLAUDIA**  
It was too much, too fast, too hard. Half-blinded by tears, Claudia stumbled away from the medical bay with no clear direction, just the knowledge that she had to get away from that room, from him. _It isn't fair_. How could he just turn up like that, with no warning, and expect things to be the same between them, after three years?

_It hasn't been three years. Not for him_. What the hell did that mean, anyway? She knew almost down to the exact number of days how long it had been since the predator incident, and it was three years almost exactly. Yet according to him, he'd been gone for only a third of that time. Was that what travelling through anomalies did to you? _Come to think of it, how did he even survive on the other side of an anomaly for three years? _Her head was aching with the effort of trying to understand. Timelines, universes... Creatures from the past was one thing, but this was a whole new level of unbelievable. Maybe he'd simply gone crazy.

After a time Claudia found herself standing outside Dr Shepard's office. She'd visited the place countless times in the past three years, and wasn't surprised that this was where her aimless wandering had taken her. She raised a hand and knocked without a second thought. It would be nice to have someone to talk to right now.

"Come in."

Claudia entered, closing the door behind her. Brooke Shepard was a woman close to Claudia's own age, with brown hair and a thin figure. She smiled at Claudia from behind her desk. There was a nameplate that sat atop the polished wood: _Dr Brooke Shepard, Counsellor_.

"Good afternoon, Claudia."

"Is it?" Claudia asked, taking the chair on the other side of Dr Shepard's desk.

"You tell me. Professor Cutter has returned."

"I just went to see him." Claudia wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "He's... I don't know what happened, but somehow he thinks it's only been a year since we last saw each other. He..." She swallowed. "He still feels the same way about me. He expects me to feel that way about him, too."

"How do you feel?" Dr Shepard asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Claudia retorted. "I've spoken to him once. He's been back for less than a day. He can't just expect things to instantly go back to the way they were!"

Dr Shepard nodded, making a few notes on the pad in front of her. "Of course. And does Jerome know about this development?"

"He knows nothing. I haven't told him about Cutter at all."

Another nod. "Are you planning to?"

"I don't know." Claudia sat back in her chair, staring at the stacks of books on the wall behind Dr Shepard's desk. "He said something else."

"Professor Cutter?"

"Yes. He was talking about... timelines. I didn't really understand all of it, but he said that wherever he's been for the past three – however long, I wasn't there. I didn't exist in that... in that world, or that time, or whatever it was."

"I see."

"And he said he dreamed about me," Claudia rushed on, "and he went looking for me, and he never stopped thinking about me. And I... I was shattered when that anomaly closed, I _was_, but now... I mean, with Jerome and everything..." She shook her head. "I feel guilty. That's how I feel. Like I failed him somehow. Like I betrayed him."


	8. Not this present

**NICK**  
"Been a long time, Professor," Connor said with a small smile.

Cutter pulled his gaze away from the door that had closed behind Claudia. "So I've been told," he murmured. "Connor, I need to ask you something."

"Go for your life."

"What happened the first time we met?"

Connor glanced confusedly at Abby, who looked equally perplexed. "Er... you threw out my dissertation and told me I should get out more. Professor."

Cutter nodded. "And you, Abby?"

"In the Forest of Dean, with the Scutosaurus. I was picking up Rex from that kid's house and got lost."

Cutter let out a sigh of relief. "Fine. I need to tell you both something, and I need you to believe me." It was like trying to convince them of Claudia's existence all over again. "First of all, I haven't been marooned in the past for the last three years."

"I knew it!" Connor said triumphantly, grinning over at Abby. "Er... not that I didn't think you could've been, Professor. Just that it was unlikely."

Abby elbowed him in the side and he winced. Cutter would have smiled at that, but he was too exhausted. "When I went through that anomaly in the Forest of Dean, I entered the same Permian Era that I had the first time," he explained. "In the Permian, Captain Ryan and his men were killed by the future predator. Helen and I failed to find the future anomaly and returned to what I thought was the same present. It wasn't." He leaned forward, trying so hard to make them understand. "The present I entered was one in which things had changed. Instead of the Home Office, we were based out of something called the Anomaly Research Centre. I thought at first that it was something Helen and I had done in the Permian that had changed the future. I spent a year there."

Connor was frowning, concentrating hard. "But you never returned to the present. The anomaly closed..."

"Not this present. Do you understand? Parallel universe theory, Connor; surely you've seen some sci-fi movie or another about it. I entered a different timeline through that anomaly. That's why I never returned here."

Connor's mouth dropped open. "Parallel universes. No way."

"Yes way. Connor, this isn't exciting; this is dangerous. Every time we enter an anomaly, we run the risk of never being able to return to not just our time, but our time_line_. And in alternate timelines, things are different. _People _are different." He took a deep breath. "In the timeline I entered through the Permian anomaly, the woman named Claudia Brown had never existed."

"What do you mean?" Abby asked.

"I mean she wasn't there when I came back. None of you knew who she was. There were no records of her working in any government facility – I know, I looked. I had entered a timeline in which she had never even been born." Even the thought of it was enough to bring on a fresh wave of nausea. "I thought it was my fault, that it had been something I'd done. I went through every anomaly I could to try and fix it. That's why I had her call you – I needed to make sure that this is my original timeline. I needed to make sure you hadn't been wiped from..." He trailed off, suddenly realising what was wrong. "Where's Stephen?"

"He's on his way," Connor said.

"What's taking him so long?"

The two of them exchanged glances. It was Abby who spoke. "He... doesn't get around as fast as he used to, anymore."

He remembered Claudia's vague comment about how Stephen no longer did fieldwork. A new layer of dread settled in his stomach. "What happened?"

Connor shook his head. "We'll let him tell you."

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Connor went to open it.

Stephen was on the other side. Connor moved out of the way to let him enter. When he spotted Cutter on the bed, his face went blank, as though he couldn't decide what expression to use. Cutter, on the other hand, was staring in what could only be described as utter shock.

Stephen was in a wheelchair. He was missing a leg.


	9. Quickly

**STEPHEN**  
He was in his office when the call came, staring at his blank computer screen. Stephen had always been a man of action rather than deep thought; he was never rash, but he never overanalysed things either. Since his injury, though, he wasn't able to do a lot more than think deeply about things. The trip to the anomaly this morning was a rare occurrence for him.

At that moment, his thoughts were in turmoil. At first he hadn't believed his eyes when Cutter had stumbled through the anomaly; he'd been far back, sitting beneath the tree, and hadn't been able to see past the cluster of people that had gathered around. He'd heard them talking afterwards, though, and there was no doubt about it: after three years, Nick Cutter had finally returned to the present.

Helen was not with him.

That thought was the start of an incredibly unpleasant chain of emotions: disappointment, relief, guilt, fear. Cutter was his best and closest friend, and he was overjoyed, of course, to see him alive and relatively well. Helen, though... Their affair had been the result of her persuasiveness and his naïvety, and he had regretted it deeply – right up until the point where she came back, and they kissed, and he realised he still wanted her.

Therein lay the guilt. It was wrong, blatantly wrong, to lust after your best friend's wife, even if they had been estranged for eight years. He'd buried all memories of their affair after her disappearance. He'd been shattered, yes, but he could pretend it was because they had been friends, and he'd respected her, and because he cared about Cutter. And then they'd both disappeared through the anomaly in the Forest of Dean before he'd had the chance to sort his feelings out, and he'd buried it again. Stephen had always been a man of action rather than deep thought; he didn't handle emotional situations well, and his usual response was to confine them to the past and pretend that they had never happened.

Of course, the past had a habit of coming back these days.

Cutter. He'd spent three years away from them, and at least a part of that time had been with his wife. _Did she tell him? _The question thrashed around in his head, over and over and over. If she had, Stephen thought, he would surely know about it the moment Cutter saw him. If she hadn't... Well, if Cutter didn't know then he would keep it that way. It was what he had done the first time, and it hadn't worked out too badly.

The internal phone rang.

"Stephen."

"It's Claudia. You'd better come down here."

There was such symmetry to this. Only hours ago had he called her to come to the Forest of Dean, and now the roles were reversed. She sounded on the verge of tears, too. "Is everything all right?"

"Just come. Quickly. Please."

She ended the call. Stephen put the phone down, looked at it for a moment, and then resumed staring at his computer screen. Now that the moment of truth had come, he was afraid – more afraid than he had been when he'd been chased down the hallway of a school by a Gorgonopsid or poisoned by an Arthropleura. He hesitated for a second, which turned into a minute, which turned into several. He had never been like this when dealing with creature incursions; it was only ever where Helen was concerned that he felt out of his depth, damn her. And she wasn't even here.

Eventually, Stephen knew that he could put it off no longer. He wheeled himself out of the office, locked the door behind him, and headed for the elevator. As he pressed the button for the first floor, it dawned on him that Cutter would be unaware of his injury. Well, at least that meant they'd have something to talk about – after Cutter was done explaining what he'd been doing for the past three years.

There was a soft _ping _and the doors opened. Stephen shoved his fears to the back of his mind and left the elevator before he could hesitate any longer. It was a quick enough journey to the medical bay; they'd built in ramps everywhere to make it easy for him. For once he wished they hadn't bothered; it would have given him an excuse to further take his time.

He was outside the door now, and there was no more time to hesitate. He knocked. Connor let him in.

He moved slowly into the room and met Cutter's gaze.


	10. It can't be easy for you

**NICK**  
Cutter became aware of the fact that he was staring. He dropped his gaze quickly, trying to make sense of his thoughts. First and foremost, he felt pity and curiosity – but deeper down, there was a sense of satisfaction. _He deserves it for having an affair with my wife_. The thought appalled him the moment it entered his mind. Stephen had been an athlete; hunting, tracking, and running had been his life. Without that, he would be a pale shadow of what he had once been.

"Welcome back, Cutter," Stephen said with a strained smile.

"Thank you," he replied automatically. An awkward silence fell between them, pregnant with questions they both wanted to ask but didn't know how. Abby and Connor exchanged another glance. Just when Cutter was beginning to wonder why he'd bothered calling Stephen down here at all, three mobile phones buzzed in unison. Thankful for the distraction, Abby, Connor and Stephen all pulled their phones from various pockets and flipped them open.

"Alex," Abby murmured.

"Captain Jones," Stephen and Connor said at the same time.

"The fieldwork leader?" Cutter asked.

"Yes." Of the three responses he got, only Abby's sounded enthusiastic. Cutter understood Stephen's attitude – Jones would have replaced him after his injury – but Connor's was a mystery. Maybe he was just jealous of the man's physical prowess. Cutter filed it away under questions to ask later. It was a list that was rapidly becoming very long.

"The anomaly's closed," Connor added.

"I guess that means nothing else is coming through," Stephen remarked quietly.

"Good," Cutter said brusquely. "I was stuck on the other side for two days after I came through the one in my timeline. It must be summer in the Permian; it was hot enough to cook a raptor's egg on a rock." Connor's mouth dropped open and Cutter smiled for the first time that day. "No, I didn't actually do it. I'm just saying that I could've."

"I believe you, Professor," Connor said fervently.

"Cutter," Abby said, "do you still need us here? I was gonna go see Alex when he gets back, see if he wants to catch a late lunch with me."

Connor's expression darkened and Cutter mentally crossed that question off his list. He paused to marshal his thoughts for a moment before he said, "No. You can go, but I want a blanket ban on all anomaly excursions until we know more about the dangers of parallel universe travel."

"Parallel universe travel?" Stephen said incredulously.

"That's what I said. When we're done here, I'll need to address everyone about its implications. And Connor?"

"Yes, Professor?"

"Can you find me some clothes? I don't have the figure for this kind of dress." He gestured towards the hospital gown.

Connor cracked a small smile. "Sure thing, Professor." He followed Abby out the door.

Nick turned to Stephen. The other man was pointedly avoiding his gaze, fiddling with the material that was folded beneath the stump of his left leg.

"When did that happen?" Cutter asked quietly.

"November fourteen, 2007." Stephen's voice was flat. "An anomaly to the Jurassic opened in Epping Forest and let through a pair of allosauruses. One caught me halfway up a tree." Cutter shuddered. "Yeah, it wasn't pretty. I was in hospital for months. Wasn't easy to explain to the nursing staff. They hired Murphy after that, and Jones and his team." He straightened up. "So, tell me. Where have you been for the last three years, and when did you raid Connor's stack of bad sci-fi novels?"

Cutter grimaced. "Believe it or not, the bad sci-fi novels have it right. I've been living in an alternate timeline for one year, not three. I've only just now made it back."

"So you haven't been surviving on raptor eggs, then."

"Of course not," Cutter said dismissively. "There were no raptors in the Permian."

Stephen gave another smile, tentatively. "So what happened with the predator's young?"

"Absolute disaster," Cutter replied with a shake of his head. "Captain Ryan and all of his men were killed, and we never found the future anomaly. When we went back through the one into the Forest of Dean, we crossed into another timeline. Things were... different."

"And that's why you never came back."

Cutter nodded wearily.

There was a pause. Stephen went back to fidgeting, and Cutter knew what was coming next.

"And Helen?"

It hit Cutter then, something he should have realised the moment he returned to his timeline. This version of Stephen had no idea that he knew about the affair. If Helen hadn't been the one to reveal it, Cutter would never have known – and Stephen hadn't been there for that reveal. Cutter looked at Stephen, long and hard. He wanted to admit that he knew, hurl the words at him like an insult, watch him cringe and try to apologise. He wanted to shout at him, something he'd never done in the other timeline because he'd been too busy grieving for Claudia Brown. He wanted to hurt Stephen as he himself had been hurt.

And yet... this Stephen _had _been hurt. He was crippled; he would never walk again. He would never hunt, shoot, run or even stand, and the knowledge was carved in the bitter lines on his face. He'd been Cutter's closest friend for eight long years and had, on multiple occasions, saved Nick's life.

Cutter let out a long sigh. He couldn't do it.

"We went our separate ways after that," he said.

"Right." Stephen looked up, still tense.

"We were only together for a few hours. She's changed. We don't have that much in common any more." He forced himself to meet Stephen's gaze as he spoke: "You probably won't see her again. I'm sorry. I know she was important to you."

The tension drained from Stephen like a deflating balloon. "Yes. Important. Thank you, Cutter. I mean – I'm sorry, too. It can't be easy for you. She was – _is _your wife."

Cutter nodded slowly, thinking of one of the last conversations he'd had with Claudia before losing her. _Ask me anything_, he'd said, smiling, teasing, so many clever responses prepared – and quick, sharp, wonderful Claudia Brown had asked the one question that he had no answer for. _Do you still love her?_

He knew the answer to that now, though. There was only one woman he loved, and she had run crying from this room.


	11. I don't pretend to understand it either

**CLAUDIA**  
"I'll tell him," she said for the third time. Every time she repeated it, it became a little more real and a little more terrifying. "I have to. It's the right thing to do, and there's no sense in putting it off. I –"

Her phone buzzed, interrupting her slightly hysterical mantra. She pulled it out and flipped it open. "Text from Captain Jones. The anomaly's closed."

"That's good," Dr Shepard said quietly.

Claudia nodded. "Yes. No dinosaurs and no Helen. Just... him." She swallowed. "I think you should talk to him."

"Yes, I'd like that. When Dr Murphy is finished with him."

"Of course." Claudia hesitated, then stood. "I should get back to work. Thank you for this, Dr Shepard. I'm sorry to trouble you."

"It's no trouble, Claudia," Dr Shepard replied. "Take care of yourself."

"You too." She left the room, her thoughts in just as much turmoil as they had been upon entering.

* * *

After a quick break for lunch – despite not having eaten all day, she had no appetite whatsoever – Claudia retreated to her office and was greeted by a pile of unread emails. Her work never ended; it wasn't easy co-running a secret government organisation with almost a hundred people on staff, not to mention managing the PR and cover-up work they did outside of CARI. There was one email that was flagged red for highest priority. She opened it up first.

_To all CARI staff: _

_An emergency meeting has been scheduled for this afternoon at 3pm in the conference hall. All members of all divisions bar those on active field duty are to attend. _

_A new danger relating to inter-anomaly travel has been discovered. As a result, all such travel has been indefinitely prohibited. Under no circumstances is any member of the Fieldwork Division or any other CARI employee to enter an anomaly until more information about this new danger has been acquired. _

_Further discussion regarding this new development will be undertaken at this afternoon's meeting. _

_Connor Temple _  
_Director of Research_

Claudia flicked her eyes up to the clock on the wall. She had a good half-hour before the meeting – more than enough time to get through some of this paperwork. She was just beginning to get into a rhythm when someone knocked on her door and swung it open without waiting for an answer.

Claudia sighed inwardly and turned to face him. "Sir James," she said. "Can I help you?"

"Why is it that I'm always the last to know about anything remotely important that goes on around here?" Her one-time boss and now coworker was never cheerful, but this time he sounded particularly irate. "A man whom we had all assumed dead stumbles out of the same anomaly he disappeared through three years ago, and nobody tells me about it. This same man then goes on to utterly disregard every part of our anomaly theory, replacing it with some hogwash about 'parallel universes' and 'alternate timelines' straight out of a science-fiction movie, and pulls every member of this organisation out of work for an emergency meeting without running it past any of us. Why do I get the feeling that nobody else is as concerned about this as I am?"

"Because this isn't just any man," Claudia replied. "This is Professor Cutter. He was investigating the anomalies before any of us. He was the original leader of this operation."

"If he thinks he can just march back in here after three years and –"

"That's not what I'm saying." Claudia's voice was firm. "He isn't going to immediately reassume control. We're too big for that now, and he's behind on three years' worth of work. But from what he says, there is an underlying danger to the anomalies that's worse than anything we've faced so far." Lester opened his mouth to speak, and she quickly held up a hand. "I don't pretend to understand it either. Let's let him have the meeting and explain it properly, and then we'll figure out what to do next."


	12. No exceptions

**NICK**  
They were almost all gathered, nearly a hundred members of the Centre for Anomaly Research and Investigation staff. Nick Cutter, who rarely even turned up for his own university lectures back in his days as a professor, was fighting a rare case of nerves. He stood at the podium, looking out at all of them. Stephen had told him there were fifteen men in the Fieldwork Division, thirty in Control, and forty in Research, plus a handful of administrative and other staff. He spotted Connor in the front row with a laptop perched on his knees, and Abby towards the back, sitting beside a handsome tanned man whom he assumed to be Captain Jones. Claudia Brown still hadn't arrived. He looked up at the clock. She was five minutes late and the staff members in front of him were restless, but there was no way he was starting this meeting without her.

Just when he saw Connor begin to tentatively raise a hand, the door to the conference hall opened and James Lester entered, followed by Claudia Brown. At the sight of her, the tightness around his heart loosened a little. _It's okay. She's still here_. She took a seat in the back, not looking at him. Lester marched all the way up to the podium where Cutter stood.

"I apologise for my tardiness, Professor Cutter." Lester sounded the opposite of apologetic; it seemed that a three-year interim had done nothing to dispel his dislike for Cutter. "I simply was unaware until very recently that you had ground this entire facility's operation to a halt so that you could call an emergency meeting on a whim."

"It's not a whim," Cutter said, fighting to keep his voice under control. "If you'd sit down, Sir Lester, I can stop holding up this entire facility's operation and get started."

Lester shot him a glare that could have stripped paint, but took a seat.

"All right," he said into the microphone, and he swallowed when he saw all ninety-four faces turn expectantly towards him. "For those of you who don't know, my name is Professor Nick Cutter. I'm an evolutionary zoologist and an ex-lecturer of Central Metropolitan University. In 2005, I was called to investigate a creature sighting in the Forest of Dean and subsequently made the first recorded discovery of an anomaly, with the assistance of Stephen Hart, Connor Temple, Abby Maitland and Claudia Brown." His voice wavered only a little when he said her name.

"We formed a team under the supervision of Sir James Lester, then of the Home Office. Our small group was in charge of predicting and containing the anomalies, while also assuring the greater public remained unaware of their existence. In March 2006, the Forest of Dean anomaly to the Permian reopened – the same one that opened today. This time, it let through a dangerous predator from the future through another anomaly inside the Permian Era itself. I along with a team of special forces soldiers was tasked with finding and closing the future anomaly."

He stopped to take a breath. "Our mission on the other side of the anomaly was a disaster. The soldiers were all killed by the future predator; I was only given the chance to escape thanks to the timely arrival of a Gorgonopsid. I returned through the anomaly into the Forest of Dean, back into what I thought was the same present. It wasn't."

Cutter leaned forward, staring straight at Claudia Brown. "The new present into which I crossed was an alternate timeline. In this timeline, everything was different. Some people had been erased from existence." She glanced up at him and he quickly looked away. "There were others who claimed to be my colleagues whom I had never heard of. I had entered a parallel universe through the anomaly from the Permian and did not return to this present, which is why I've been marked down as missing for the past three years."

They were looking less confused than he'd expected them to; some were even nodding. _Thank God Lester has hired intelligent people_. "Do you understand what I mean?" he asked, looking out at the crowd. "The anomalies aren't just doorways in time. They're doorways between time_lines_. Every man or woman who passes through is now at risk of never making it back to their own universe, let alone their own time. If we thought travelling through them was dangerous before, that's nothing compared to what we know now."

"What happens if we have to go through?" asked Captain Jones from the back.

"We don't," Cutter said flatly. "You read Connor's email. There are to be no inter-anomaly missions, no exceptions, until we have a better idea of exactly what it is we're dealing with."

Jones did not look happy.

Cutter didn't care.

"Does everyone understand? No exceptions." He received a few nods from the audience and took that as encouragement enough. "Thank you." Without saying anything more, he stepped down from the podium. The rest of the staff began to file out. He went over to Connor. "Did you get all of that?"

"Yep." The young man slapped his laptop shut and nodded up at the Professor. "Next step is to figure it out, eh? Why some anomalies lead to separate timelines and others don't?"

Cutter nodded. "But first, I need to know everything you know. You're two years ahead of me in terms of research. Can we go to your office?"

"Yeah, of course."

"One moment, please." A thin woman, looking to be around Claudia's age, spoke up from Cutter's left and Connor immediately fell silent. "Professor. My name is Dr Brooke Shepard; I'm a psychologist and counsellor here at CARI."

"We have a psychologist now?"

"Yes," Dr Shepard replied crisply. "I also hold several science degrees majoring in evolutionary biology and quantum mechanics, and an arts degree in ancient mythological studies."

"I see," Cutter said.

"I would appreciate it if you could drop by my office sometime in the near future. I'm sure Master Temple would be able to show you the way."

"Look, I don't really have the time –"

"I insist, Professor." Dr Shepard smiled up at him and left the hall before he could make reply.


	13. Let's talk about the anomalies

**CONNOR**  
"I'll show you the way there now if you'd like, Professor."

"No thanks, Connor. I don't need counselling." Cutter turned back to him. "Your office. Lead the way."

"Right! Yeah." He went out the back door so he could glance at Abby and Jones on the way. The soldier was muttering something under his breath, his arms folded, looking very put out. Connor tried not to feel too pleased about that, but it was hard. "Hey, Professor, can I ask you something?"

"You just did," Cutter replied, deadpan.

"Oh. Sorry. Well, I was just wondering... since you're back now, does that mean you're in charge again?"

Cutter shrugged. "You tell me, Connor," he said. "I don't know anything about the politics around here. Somehow, I don't think you and Abby would mind, but Captain Jones seemed a little put off by the idea."

"I know." Connor couldn't keep the glee from his voice.

Cutter looked like he was fighting back a smile. "The four of you are equally in charge, aren't you? You, Jones, Lester... Claudia." Connor watched his eyes slip slightly out of focus, like his mind was suddenly far away. The almost-smile was gone. _I wonder if he knows about Jerome_.

"Yeah, we are. I'm the director of Research, Jones is –"

"Fieldwork, I know. I guess I'll talk to all of you about it, then. Though, technically speaking, Lester was always the one 'in charge'." The sarcasm dripped from his voice.

"He's not so bad now," Connor remarked. "He sort of... adjusted after you disappeared. Started taking the whole thing more seriously, getting more involved. I'd even go so far as to say he missed you."

"Nice to hear that someone did," Cutter murmured.

Connor frowned at that. "I did too," he said quickly. "We all did. Claudia went back to the forest every day for a –"

"Let's talk about the anomalies," Cutter said brusquely. "How much more do you know now than you did three years ago?"

"Well," Connor began, put off by the sudden change in topic, "we discovered that the appearance of anomalies causes interference on a certain radio frequency. Once we'd figured that out, it wasn't too hard for me to construct a device that would detect new sources of interference and display them on a map of the whole UK. It's called the ADD, or Anomaly Detection Device – terrible acronym, I know. It makes containing them a hell of a lot easier, but we still haven't figured out how they open or close yet."

"Not a bad few years' work," Cutter said. Connor flushed with praise. "Is there anything different about the anomaly in the Forest of Dean?"

"Not that we've noticed." Connor paused to fish his office keys out of his pocket and let Cutter into the spacious room. The professor took the chair at his desk; Connor sat on the desk itself and flicked on the computer beside him, then opened his laptop. "It's been a pretty dull past few months. We haven't had a period of really frantic anomaly activity since you disappeared; actually, it's been more or less declining. Here." He leaned over Cutter to enter his password into the desktop computer, then pulled up a copy of the same document he was viewing. "Dates, durations and locations of every anomaly we've ever seen, plus a rough estimate of which era they led to. We haven't detected any patterns as of yet."

Cutter nodded, scrolling through the page. "And this is the first time the forest anomaly's opened since I... disappeared?"

"Yep. Took us all completely by surprise, let alone when you actually fell out of it."

"I try." Cutter grinned. "Are any of these open right now?"

"No. No active sites."

"Okay." Cutter sat back with a short sigh. "Have you been monitoring the magnetic field strength?"

"Yes. It fluctuates, but again, it seems random – no connection to location, duration or era. The radio frequency's the only thing that's constant."

"Right." Cutter fell silent, and Connor watched him think.

"Hey, Professor?"

"Hm?"

"Did you meet my doppelganger in the other universe?"

"You were there, yes."

"What was I...?"

"Exactly the same." Cutter smiled. "I feel like I should thank you, actually. Out of the whole team, you were the only one who believed me when I tried to explain about Claudia Brown."

"You mean how she didn't exist."

Cutter nodded. Smile gone. "I can't even begin to explain it, Connor. It was... Imagine if you woke up one day and Abby was gone. Disappeared from the flat. Didn't leave a note, didn't say goodbye. When you asked us if we'd heard from her, we had no idea who you were talking about. She'd disappeared utterly from everywhere except your mind. I lived like that for a year."

Connor felt sick. "Does she know?"

"I tried to tell her. I don't know if she understood."

"Maybe you should talk to Dr Shepard about it," Connor suggested. "She's cleverer than you'd think, you know. She didn't get all those degrees from nowhere; she understands way more than –"

"_No_," Cutter said instantly. "No psychologists."

The vehemence in his voice took Connor aback. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said quickly. "She gets more than you'd think, that's all."

Cutter rubbed his eyes. "No, I'm sorry, Connor. Been a long day."

"Tell me about it. I was up at the crack of dawn waiting for you down at the Forest of Dean." He paused, then met Cutter's gaze. "It's good to have you back, Professor," he said earnestly.

"It's good to be back," Cutter replied. "Now all we need to do is figure out what the hell is going on."


	14. Our wayward patient

**NICK**  
There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Connor called.

Dr Murphy stepped into the room, smiling when his eyes fell upon Cutter. "Our wayward patient." His eyes twinkled. "We'd like to keep you here overnight, Professor Cutter, if that's not too disagreeable with you."

Cutter sighed. "Fine." A sobering realisation hit him: _It's not like I have anywhere else to go_. "Uh... I might be here a few nights, I guess. I don't really have a house anymore."

"Claudia kept it off the market for you for a while," Connor said. "You know, she and her mystical government powers." He wiggled his fingers, causing the laptop to almost slide from his knees; he grabbed at it to keep it falling off the desk. "Er... but eventually she let it go. Sorry, Professor. I'd offer to let you crash at my place, but I don't know if Abby'd be cool with that. Stephen could probably put you up, though."

The thought of sharing a house with the man who had slept with his wife was... difficult, to say the least. "Thanks, Connor. We'll see what happens." He stood up and began to follow Dr Murphy out the door.

"She cleared the place out before the new owners moved in," Connor added. "I think she kept a lot of the stuff from your lab. You know, if you ever need it for work or something, you could ask her."

Cutter stopped. _Claudia Brown cleared out my house_. How much had she kept? Had she just been to the lab, or had she visited his bedroom? It hardly mattered – there was nothing in there that was incriminating – but it was a strange thought, that she'd visited his place without him there. He wondered how long she had stayed.

"Professor?" Dr Murphy prompted.

"Yeah, I'm coming." He followed the doctor out of the office.

"Temperature normal, blood pressure normal, fluid levels normal. I must say, Professor Cutter, you've made an incredibly rapid recovery – especially when you consider the fact that you ripped out your own IV and ran from the room."

"Sorry about that," Cutter said sheepishly. "I was... disoriented."

"I see." Dr Murphy scribbled a few notes on his clipboard. "How are you feeling now? Would you like something to eat, or would you prefer to sleep?"

"_Food_," Cutter said emphatically. Two days in the Permian had left him with a deep craving for chicken, or bacon, or anything that wasn't prehistoric plant life or the survival rations he'd taken through with him. "I wouldn't mind a shower, either," he added as an afterthought.

Dr Murphy smiled. "There's a fully-equipped bathroom through that door," he said, pointing. "Towels in that cupboard, and I see Master Temple already found you several sets of fresh clothes. I'll have a meal prepared for you when you're done."

"Thank you, Dr Murphy." Cutter was halfway across the room when he stopped and turned. "Erm... for everything. And I'm sorry again for this morning." His hand came up to rub the back of his neck.

The doctor's smile widened. "Not at all, Professor Cutter. That's my job."

"Are you the only doctor at CARI?"

He nodded. "I was hired as a field medic, originally."

"How'd you find adjusting to the, uh, unique line of work?"

Dr Murphy chuckled. "I did my field training in Africa, so I've seen some fairly impressive animals in my time, but that was nothing compared to the Giganotosaurus."

"A Giganotosaurus?" Cutter said incredulously. "How the hell did you get that one back home?"

"Captain Jones chased it with a helicopter."

"I see." Cutter was smiling. "There was a time when I'd've given my right hand to see a Giganotosaurus. Now, not so much."

Dr Murphy nodded. "We lost a good man to it, and the cover-up work was hell. Miss Brown worked overtime for days."

At the mention of Claudia's name, Cutter's head became filled with all kinds of thoughts once again. "I'm going to take that shower," he said, pulling the first towel he could find from the cupboard and disappearing into the bathroom.

As he stood under a jet of hot water washing away three days' worth of dirt and grime, Cutter decided that the two of them needed to talk. She had to know how hard it had been for him, being without her for a year – and he wanted to know how much she had missed him in return. Connor had said she'd visited the Forest of Dean anomaly site multiple times, and she'd kept his house free for him for a time and then gathered up his belongings when she had to let it go... but on the other hand, she'd avoided his gaze all day and run away from him. Maybe she was just overwhelmed. Whatever it was, he would talk it out with her.

Cutter heaved a great sigh. He was usually very bad at talking.


	15. You're too good at it

**ABBY**  
"Can you believe him, though?" Jones asked for the third time. "I mean, he just waltzes through an anomaly and suddenly starts acting like he owns the place. Who does he think he is?"

"Give it a rest, Alex," Abby sighed. "Don't worry. I've told you, he's not going to take away your job. You're too good at it." She kissed him on the lips. "Hey... did you want to come around to mine tonight? I'm sure I can persuade Connor to sleep at a friend's."

"When are you going to kick him out already? I thought it was only supposed to be a short-time thing."

"It _was _only supposed to be a short-time thing." Abby sighed. "He hasn't got anywhere else to go, Alex, all right? He's a good mate."

"But I'm your _boyfriend_." Alex purred the word right into her ear. She shivered and smacked him, grinning. "Don't do that," he said in a low voice. "Do you really want to start something in the conference hall?"

Abby paused, seriously considering it.

Alex smirked, kissing her ear. "My little minx. All right, I'll spend the night at your place. If you're _that_ impatient, though, you could always pay my office a visit on the way..."

"Done."

* * *

Some time later, she swung by Connor's office to kick him out of her flat for the night. She could hear music playing from under his door. Without knocking, she entered, snuck up on the beanbag where he sat, and grabbed his shoulders with a growl. "Rar!"

Connor yelped and jumped, almost dropping his laptop again. "Abby! Oh my God! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Abby chuckled and grabbed the remote from beside the beanbag, switching off the music. "Hey, we need to talk."

"Sure." He patted the other half of the beanbag, but she ignored him and sat cross-legged on the floor.

"I've invited Alex over tonight. Can you crash at a friend's place?"

"Yeah, of... course." She could read the disappointment on his face as clearly as if he'd scrawled it with permanent marker. "Course I can."

"Thanks, Connor. You're the best." Abby gave him a quick hug before sitting back down on the floor. "Wanna do me another favour? Can you explain what Cutter was talking about with timelines and universes?"

"Uh, yeah. Ever seen _Star Trek_?"

"Not apart from that one episode you tried to get me to watch."

"I will never understand why you didn't enjoy it," Connor replied honestly. "What about _Donnie Darko_?"

"Once. Long time ago. Can't really remember it."

Connor ran a hand through his hair. "Uh... okay. How about _His Dark Materials_; have you read those?"

"Nope."

"Fair enough; the ending's rubbish anyway. If I were Will, I would've stayed with Lyra even if I could only have lived for another day." He gulped. "Oops, sorry. Spoilers."

"Just get to the point..."

"Right! Okay. Well, anomalies are like doors between time periods, right? So you can go from the present to the past, or the past to the present, but not the present to the present. They're like elevators; you can move up and down, but not sideways. Hey, that's a pretty good analogy."

"Connor," Abby said wearily.

"Sorry." Connor cleared his throat. "Well, parallel universe theory, or multiverse theory, or alternative timeline theory or whatever, says that there's a whole bunch of different universes stacked on top of each other. Some people think that every time we make a decision, we split off into a different universe. So for example, I was tossing up between playing _Warcraft_ and playing _Skyrim_ today, right? I chose _Warcraft_ and so I'm in this universe, but there's also a me who chose _Skyrim _in a different universe, hacking skeevers to bits."

"Okay..." Abby said slowly.

"So what Professor Cutter was saying was, anomalies can jump between these universes as well. In the universe he went into after disappearing from ours, Claudia Brown didn't exist – maybe her parents had chosen to use birth control that one time, or maybe they'd made another choice that mean they never met at all. On the other hand, he said I acted pretty much exactly the same, so I guess the two universes were pretty alike in that way. Who knows? Maybe in a different timeline, you and I are –"

"So Cutter's banned anomaly travel because we just invented a whole different meaning for the phrase _'lost in space'_," Abby said.

Connor stared at her. "Did you just make a sci-fi joke?"

She grinned at him. "Sorry. I interrupted you."

"Don't worry about it... I wasn't really saying anything important anyway." Connor cleared his throat again. "Basically, the elevators I was talking about can now move sideways and diagonally as well as up and down. I guess that opens us up to all kinds of new creatures though – not to mention people. Hey, imagine if another version of me came out of an anomaly!"

"Connor," Abby said, "one of you is _quite _enough."

"Right. Sorry."

"Anyway, I think I get what you mean." Abby stood up. "I'm gonna head home, tidy the place up a bit before Alex comes over. Did you want to swing by and pick up anything for the night?"

Connor shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. You two have fun."

"Oh, I'm sure we will." She grinned. "I'll see you tomorrow." Humming to herself, she skipped from the office, unaware of the gagging motions Connor was making behind her back.


	16. I don't trust him

**CLAUDIA**  
"I don't know what you'd call it, but I thought that was a pretty clear example of _immediately resuming control_." Lester was not happy as he and Claudia walked out of the conference hall together. "Something needs to be done about him before he takes over this entire organisation. He needs to be told in no uncertain terms that he is no longer in control here. I'm talking to you, Miss Brown."

"What? I'm sorry." Her mind was far away, still trying to digest the new alternate timeline theory. She took a deep breath and attempted to organise her thoughts. "I agree with you in that Cutter can't be allowed to resume complete control, but we can't deny that he has a lot to offer. He was instrumental in the early days of the project and he's ahead of all of us on the new theory."

"What do you suggest, then?"

"A compromise. We should meet with Cutter tomorrow – you, me, Connor and Jones – and figure it out as a team. Maybe Cutter or Connor will have further ideas on how to tackle the new theory."

"So you believe him?"

That pulled Claudia up short. She stopped walking and stared at Lester. "He has no reason to lie," she said.

"Doesn't he? The last we saw of him, he disappeared through an anomaly with his wife." Lester folded his arms. "What makes you so sure he isn't in league with her?"

"Don't." Claudia closed her eyes. She had had the same thought, so many times. _Helen is the most manipulative woman I've ever met. She could easily have convinced him to stay with her in the past. Maybe they found the future together. Maybe it's just been the two of them – alone, in the past, having adventures, keeping each other warm..._

Her eyes flew open. "If he wanted to stay with her, he wouldn't have bothered coming back."

"I don't trust him," Lester said flatly. "I want him monitored." He turned on his heel and marched towards his office.

"Monitored?" Claudia exclaimed, hurrying after him. "So we're spying on our own men now?"

"He isn't one of 'our men'; he hasn't been for years. He could potentially plunge this entire organisation into chaos and I will not stand by and watch him do that."

"He is not Helen," Claudia said.

"Maybe not, but he's the closest thing. Fine; schedule this meeting of yours for tomorrow and we'll try for a _compromise_." He spoke the word like it tasted foul in his mouth. "But you'd better make it clear to him that if he slips up, I have the authority to remove him from this organisation, and I will not hesitate to do so."

He strode away, leaving Claudia rubbing her temples.

* * *

It was late in the day and she wanted nothing more than to go home and curl up in bed, but there was always work to do and she hated falling behind. Claudia went back to her office and sat in front of her computer, but she couldn't possibly concentrate on emails and messages with everything that had happened that day. A whole host of thoughts she had kept locked away for years had been ripped open, first by Cutter's appearance and then by Lester's words.

_I will not let this get to me_, she vowed, over and over in her mind. Whatever she may or may not have felt for Cutter three years ago was gone. She had well and truly moved on, even if he hadn't. What he had said earlier that afternoon had made that much quite clear...

With that thought, she shut down her computer and exited the office. She had definitely been working for too long to be dwelling on such things. Fishing her phone out of her pocket, she called Jerome.

"Hello?"

"It's me. I'm sorry for leaving so early this morning; something came up at work and I had to come in."

"Don't worry about it. Will you be home in time for dinner?"

"Yes. I'm leaving now." As she passed the medical bay, Claudia had to fight hard not to glance through the window. "How's your day been?"

"A little dull, to be honest. What about yours?"

"Dull," Claudia said. "Dull is exactly the word."

"Are you all right?" She could hear the concern in his voice.

"Fine, Jem. Just been a long day."

"Okay. I'll see you soon. Drive safely, sweetheart. I love you."

"Love you too." She snapped her phone shut, trying to ignore the sudden feeling of guilt that had come out of nowhere for absolutely no reason.


	17. I didn't mean to frighten you

**NICK**  
He lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling in the med bay. He was in fresh clothes and full from the first proper meal he'd had in days, and the bed was not uncomfortable. Sleep eluded him, though, despite that fact that he'd had very little of it over the past two days. His mind was full of her.

Claudia Brown.

Over and over in his head he replayed the conversation they'd had. He remembered every word; he mightn't have been the most social of butterflies, but he had a memory for detail when it came to the important things. He remembered Helen's words after Claudia had farewelled him: "_Please don't tell me you're in love with her_." Claudia had asked him exactly the same thing about Helen. The two women in his life – so alike in some ways, but so different in all the rest.

The biggest similarity, it seemed, was the constant battle to conquer the distance between them. He had lost Helen for eight years through the anomalies and Claudia for one – or three, depending on whose perspective you saw it from. When Helen had returned, he had been a jumble of confused emotions – shock, hurt, anger, relief – and she had done nothing to help; she'd simply stayed long enough to try and convince him to run away with her, and then run away herself when he'd refused. Not before dropping the bombshell, though; not before souring his relationship with her and with Stephen forever. Helen always had to have the last word.

Claudia wasn't like that. She was strong, yes, never one to give up or back down, but beneath that there was a fragility to her, a sensitivity that Helen had always lacked. It drew him to her like a magnet was drawn to an anomaly. A year away from her had done nothing to decrease the strength of that pull.

And yet... it had been three years for her, and in that time, it seemed, everything had changed. There was a distance between them that had not been there when he had left, when she had kissed him goodbye. It was a distance not just of space or of time, but emotionally – she had walled herself off from him, like she barely knew who he was.

There was only one explanation. He had royally screwed up their talk.

Lying in bed, Cutter heaved an enormous sigh. He was a scientist, damn it, a research expert who spent most of his days hidden away in books. He had never been good at understanding people – especially women.

"Claudia Brown," he whispered to the darkness in rehearsal. "I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I didn't mean to frighten you. This is all new to me, too. All I want is for things to go back to the way they were between us. That's all I ask. I'm so, so glad to have found you again..."


	18. Let's get started

**CLAUDIA **  
Bright and early the next morning, she gathered Jones, Connor, Lester, Cutter and herself for the dreaded compromise meeting. Claudia had barely slept for the second night in a row and was feeling the results – only this time it hadn't been bad dreams, just an utter inability to fall asleep. Her thoughts had been a whirlwind and even the comforting presence of Jem beside her hadn't made it easier. She was quick to wall off that line of thinking; she had a job to do that morning, and that wasn't going to make it any easier.

"My, my," said Lester, looking around at each of them. "Was there a midnight anomaly that I missed?"

"Very funny," Cutter answered. Now that she looked, there were dark rings under his eyes, too – and Connor's, and Jones'. Maybe she hadn't been the only person conflicted over Cutter's return. The thought bolstered her confidence a little, even if bloody Lester looked immaculate as always in one of his suits.

"Let's get started," she said. "Captain Jones, I don't think you've been properly introduced to Professor Nick Cutter. Cutter, this is Captain Alex Jones – he's in charge of our fieldwork team."

Jones held out a hand over the table. Cutter shook it.

"Jones, as you heard yesterday, Cutter was originally in charge of the anomaly project. Returning from a mission to the Permian Era searching for a future anomaly, Cutter was somehow transported to an alternate universe rather than returning to his own. As a result, he's been marked as missing on CARI's records for the past three years." She looked at him, making the effort to hold his gaze. "Is that correct, Professor Cutter?"

He nodded.

"Which brings us to the purpose of today's meeting," Claudia continued. "As one of the founding members of the anomaly project, the professor is obviously entitled to some form of leadership position. The question is –"

"Hold up, Claudia." Jones interrupted her with an ingratiating smile. "Nick may be a founding member, but that doesn't necessarily mean he gets to be in charge. Abby and Stephen have both been here from the start, and they don't get a shiny name tag and a big office."

"Stephen was the director of Fieldwork until his injury, and Abby holds an unofficial leadership position as head of temporary creature care," Claudia answered smoothly.

"I agree with Captain Jones," Lester announced. Claudia struggled to rein in a sigh. "Cutter's presence in the baby stages of this project does not make him eligible for a position of authority after such a prolonged leave of absence. We have not yet received even a moderately satisfactory explanation of what he has been doing for the past three years."

"I only spent one year in the alternative timeline," Cutter said. "During that time I worked in that universe's equivalent of this building, known as the Anomaly Research Centre. I helped Connor perfect a device that would allow us to detect the anomalies as they opened – the ADD, identical to the one you have here."

"You see?" Lester looked at Connor, who visibly shrank away from his gaze. "Master Temple has created such a device without the assistance of Professor Cutter."

"Hold on," Connor said. "I wouldn't mind some assistance here or there –"

"But it's not necessary." Lester turned back to Cutter. "If – and only if – we believe your story about the parallel universes, that still leaves several questions very much unanswered. How is it you have managed to travel between them when none of us apparently have the ability?"

"We don't know if that's true," Cutter replied. "It's possible that we may have travelled to alternative timelines without realising. How many of you could tell one Carboniferous Era from another? We don't know enough about the distance past to accurately judge whether or not parallel universe travel has already occurred."

"Another question, then," Lester snapped. "Where is your wife?"

Silence descended as Cutter attempted to process the question. "I don't really see what that has to do with anything."

"The last we saw of you, you disappeared into an anomaly with her. Helen Cutter is a serious danger to the safety and security of this organisation and of the present day as a whole. You are the person most likely to know of her whereabouts. How do we know you haven't spent three years in the past or future with her? The two of you could be in league with one another to bring this organisation down."

"That is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard," Cutter said flatly. "The last time I saw my wife, she said –" He stopped and looked to wrestle with himself for a moment. "She offered me the chance to stay and seek the future with her, but I told her I had something more important back home." Claudia turned her head so that she didn't have to see him look at her.

"How can we believe you?" Lester asked.

"Why the hell would I lie?" Cutter shouted. "I want nothing to do with her as much as you do! She left me in mourning for eight years and when I refused to join her on her insane expeditions, she proceeded to wreck my life in the most vicious way possible. I thought for a long time that she was the one responsible for wiping Claudia Brown from the timeline."

"I'm sorry, what?" Lester said.

Cutter turned to him, anger clear in his eyes. "In the alternative timeline, she never existed. None of you had ever heard of her. I never want to go back to that timeline again, so please, can we cut this useless bickering and give me a damned name tag so we can start figuring all of this out?"

"He's not taking over my division," Jones declared. "I trust no-one else with the safety of my men, especially not –"

"I'm not _taking over _anywhere." Cutter was evidently fighting to keep his voice under control. "I'll work alongside Connor in Research. I meant what I said yesterday, though, Jones. I don't care what you think is on the other side of an anomaly, nobody passes through."

"I don't think you have the authority to make that call," Jones replied acidly. "Who's the director of the Fieldwork Division again?"

"For God's sake –" Cutter exploded.

"Enough!" Claudia shouted. She took them by surprise, and they all looked at her. "Please. Cutter is right; this arguing is pointless! We all have a common goal here, and that is to predict, contain, and understand the anomalies. If Professor Cutter thinks there's a new danger, then we should listen to him. Captain Jones, I'm sure you can adequately carry out your duties as Director of Fieldwork without attempting inter-anomaly travel."

"Thank you, Claudia," Cutter replied.

"And as for you, Cutter," she continued without hesitation, "it would be much appreciated if you could keep a civil tongue in your head when addressing your coworkers."

He looked like she had slapped him. She didn't care. "I think we're done here," she said. "Thank you all for your time. You can return to your respective divisions and continue with your work."


	19. Just for a little while

**NICK**  
"Connor, can I work with you in your office?"

"Course." Connor stifled a yawn. "Uh... actually, you'd better give me a sec just to, uh, making sure everything's in order. Meet me there in a few minutes!" He ran off before Cutter could make reply. Cutter watched him run, all awkwardness and angles. He heard Captain Jones laugh derisively behind him, and only Claudia's admonishment over civility stopped him from turning around and telling the soldier to shove it.

Claudia and Lester were arguing animatedly as they packed up their things. Leaning against the wall outside the room in which they'd held their meeting, Cutter tried hard to make out their words, to tell if Claudia was on his side, but it was too difficult. Eventually they exited the room and promptly walked in opposite directions. Cutter followed after Claudia almost without thinking.

"Hey," he called. She stopped, but didn't turn around. He caught up to her. "Thanks for sticking up for me, back there. Jones is a right..." _Civility_, he reminded himself. "...piece of work."

"He does his job well." Claudia shifted the papers she was holding. "Did you need something?"

"Actually, yeah. I was wondering if I could stay with you for a few nights."

The papers fell from Claudia's hands. He knelt to help her gather them up. Their fingers brushed over a document and he lingered at the touch, but she stood quickly, pulling away from him.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked.

"Just for a little while. I don't have a house."

"I know that," Claudia replied, her cheeks pink. "I'm sure Dr Murphy would let you sleep in the medical bay until you got things sorted out."

"No, I don't want to get in the way around here."

"Stephen, then?" Claudia asked. "I gave him your things after I... came by them. He's been keeping them for you. He's your best friend. He wouldn't turn you down."

"Things between us are... difficult." Cutter shook his head. "It's hard to explain."

"I'm sorry, Cutter, but the answer is a no."

"Why?"

She stared at him, her mouth slightly open. "Because it's my house, Cutter! I think I have the right to say who sleeps in it."

"You'll hardly even know I'm there," Cutter said. "Really. I'll spend most of my time here anyway – it'll just be for nights. I'll sleep on the couch, and start looking for another place to stay straight away."

"No," Claudia said flatly, turning away from him.

"_Why_?" Cutter asked for the second time. "Claudia, I need to know. Why the distance between us? Is it the time? That shouldn't matter. Neither of us have changed while I've been away. I'm still the same person I was." He touched her shoulder. "I still care about you."

She looked up at him through her hair and through eyes filled with tears. "The answer is a no, Cutter," she said quietly. "I live with my fiancé, and I hardly think he would find it appropriate."

It hit him like a punch in the chest. He felt the air desert his lungs.

"You're engaged."

"Yes."

He looked down at her hand and saw the ring there. He wondered how he'd failed to notice it before.

"Who is he?" he asked, numb.

"His name is Jem Keenan. He works in corporate finance, and it's really none of your business."

"It damned well is my business, Claudia!" Cutter shouted. There was the anger, hot and fresh in his chest. He was breathing like he'd run a marathon, nails digging into his palms, tears spiking his eyes. "I spent a year missing you, a year searching for you, and I make it back for this?" She was crying; she had no right to cry; _he _was the one who had the right to cry. "So you've just... you've just moved on, is that what you're saying?"

"Yes!" Claudia exclaimed. "Yes, I have moved on! You were gone three years, Cutter! I thought you were never coming back."

Cutter shook his head, furious beyond coherent thought. "Why didn't you wait for me?"

"I..."

"Why, Claudia?" he yelled. "Why was that so hard? I waited for you. I would have waited forever. I waited for you in a timeline where you had _never even existed_. I waited _eight years_ for Helen after she disappeared, and she sure as hell didn't love me half as much as I love you."


	20. I have a few theories

**CONNOR**  
He tore around the office like a madman, trying desperately to clean it up before Cutter arrived. The place looked like it had been slept in overnight – mostly because it had. He kept spare clothes in the office in case he needed them after an anomaly appearance, but he'd thrown the ones he'd worn last night all over the place. There was a pizza box dripping cheese onto the floor, and several drink cans crushed up under his desk. Connor was usually a fairly neat person, but he'd been in a bad mood last night after Abby left and hadn't bothered cleaning up at all.

He needn't have rushed, though. When Cutter finally entered the office after almost half an hour, the state of the room looked to be the last thing on his mind. Connor glanced up from where he sat on the beanbag and his eyes widened. "Are you all right, Professor?"

Cutter turned to him slowly. "Claudia's engaged."

Connor winced. "Uh... yeah. That Jerome guy, I think he's called."

Cutter walked to the desk and sat down, staring at his hands. "Why did nobody tell me?"

"It wasn't really our place to tell, Professor," Connor said gently. "If it helps, she's been seeing him for almost a year now..."

"That doesn't help."

"Sorry." Connor scratched the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. He remembered how shattered he had felt when Abby had announced that she and Jones were an item, but this was almost like something else; from what Cutter had said, he'd spent all his time away searching for Claudia, only to find when he finally found her that she'd moved on. That had to hurt.

Cutter eventually broke the silence. "Let's just get on with our work."

"Right. Yeah." Connor went over to the shelf on the wall and pulled a laptop from its charger. "Since you're officially part of the team now, I figured I'd let you have one of these. Be careful with her; she cost the government a lot of money." He grinned, passing it to Cutter. "Password's _cariresearch_, no caps, no spaces. She's a real beauty – newest operating system, three-terabyte hard drive. I've copied the most important files to your desktop, but I wasn't really sure where you wanted to start."

Cutter was silent for a moment as the laptop booted up. "I have a few theories," he said after a while. Connor could almost see the professor forcing his thoughts away from Claudia onto easier things. "What we really need is a comprehensive analysis of all anomaly sites, both outside the anomaly and in. Pictures, data. We need to figure out what makes cross-universe anomalies different from regular ones, and how to tell one from the other so we don't have any... _disappearances_, again."

Connor nodded. "I can get access from the pictorial databases, but only up to the anomalies we've seen so far. If another one appears, we can't really risk sending a team in to take happy snaps, can we?"

"No, we can't," Cutter agreed. "The past anomalies will have to do for now."

* * *

They worked until late in the morning, browsing through albums of photographs, reading pages of documents that Connor had compiled. He did his best to keep from yawning, but he couldn't help it once or twice – beanbags may have been comfy to sit on, but they were a pain when it came to sleeping. He noticed that Cutter was distracted too; he would trail off in the middle of a sentence, or look up from his laptop and stare into space for a while. Whenever that happened, Connor didn't interrupt his reverie. He would just wait until the professor returned to the present.

"I'm sorry, I must have zoned out," Cutter said for the fifth time, turning to Connor. "What were you saying?"

"I asked if you wanted to take a break," Connor replied. "I'm pretty knackered as well, actually. Had a long night."

"What, fighting goblins?" Cutter gestured towards the Xbox hooked up to the TV in the corner.

"Orcs, actually." Nothing like an all-night PvP session to get his mind of whatever Abby and Jones were doing back at the flat.

"Right." Cutter didn't smile. "A break sounds like a good idea, though. Is there somewhere we can find something to eat around here?"

"There's a café across the road," Connor replied. "Food's not too bad. Coffee's rubbish, though."

Cutter made a face. "All right. I'll check it out anyway. Thanks, Connor." He closed the laptop and put it on the desk, then turned to Connor and looked him in the eye. "You've done a good job, while I've been away. Well done."

Connor grinned, absurdly pleased. "Thanks, Professor," he said. "I just do my best. Hey, listen... before you go." He cleared his throat nervously. "I hope you don't think this is weird, but if you ever want to talk, you know, about Claudia or anything... maybe you really should consider going to see Dr Shepard. I know the whole psychologist thing's a little bit freaky – I used to think they were out to hypnotise us and make them into their puppets in the quest for world domination – but she's not actually that bad."

"No counsellors," Cutter said flatly.

"Glad I'm not the only one who used to be creeped out," Connor said, nodding in sympathy. "Seriously, though, Cutter... you kind of look like you could use someone to talk to."

Cutter took a breath and let it out in a sigh. "Last year," he said, "in the alternative timeline, nobody but you believed my story about Claudia Brown. Lester set me up with some government-sponsored shrink because he thought I'd lost it. He tried to get me to see her three times a week so that she could get to the root of my 'problems'. It wasn't a pleasant experience – she gave up on me in the end, just walked out of the office. The same thing happened to the man who was assigned to see me by the university after Helen's disappearance. I don't do counselling, Connor. I'm perfectly sane, and I can take care of myself."

Connor nodded, abashed. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Cutter stood up and walked to the door. "Want me to buy you a coffee?"

"No thanks. I meant it when I said it was rubbish."

Cutter grimaced. "All right. I'll see you soon."


	21. It's just easier this way

**STEPHEN**  
He hadn't been expecting anyone to visit and was more than a little surprised when there was a knock on the door. He called for them to come in, though, because he wasn't doing anything important. Just more of that deep thinking he'd fallen into the habit of since his injury.

It was Cutter. "I brought coffee," the professor said gruffly. "Connor was right, though; it tastes like stale water. Not even hot."

"How can water be stale?" Stephen asked, accepting the coffee. He took a sip and pulled a face. "Ah. I see what you mean."

"Yep." Stephen looked up at Cutter as he leaned against the desk, staring at the opposite wall. It wasn't all that easy to digest the fact that a man who had been missing for the past three years had suddenly appeared out of a rip in time. He was glad Cutter had returned, though. He was especially glad that he appeared to be in the dark about himself and Helen.

"You all right?" Stephen asked quietly.

"Nope," Cutter replied.

They were silent, falling easily into the old routine. Stephen wouldn't push; if Cutter wanted to open up, he would. Eventually Cutter drained his coffee and put the empty cup aside. "Claudia told me about her fiancé this morning."

"Ah," Stephen said. He watched Cutter wrestle with his thoughts for a while.

"She didn't exist, in the alternative timeline," he said at last. "She had never been born. Nobody knew who she was, and nobody believed me when I tried to tell them about her. I thought something we had done in the past had wiped her from history. I lived with that knowledge for a year."

Stephen only nodded. There was nothing to say.

"Have you considered a prosthetic?" The sudden change in topic was another thing Stephen remembered well about the professor; if something too difficult came up, he would simply stop talking about it.

"I didn't really see the point," Stephen said bitterly. "There's such restriction of movement involved, it'd be just as bad as being wheelchair-bound. Learning to walk again would be... humiliating. With every step, I'd be reminded that I was crippled. It's just easier this way." He gripped the handles of the wheelchair hard for a moment, then relaxed with a sigh.

More silence. Neither of them were excessive talkers; it made the friendship work. "Claudia told me she gave you my things," Cutter said after a while. "Before they sold the house."

"Oh, yeah. A few photos, the books you always kept by your bedside. You didn't really have that much personal stuff. Most of your work from the university is in storage downstairs, but the rest is back at my place. I can bring it tomorrow if you want."

"I don't have anywhere to put it," Cutter said bluntly.

"Come by and stay for a while, then."

Cutter hesitated, looking at Stephen oddly. "All right," he said eventually. "Thanks."

"What did you think I was going to do, make you sleep on the street?" Stephen was struggling a little bit, trying to judge the strength of their friendship after all those months. Cutter was definitely more reserved, which was saying something for a man who had always been on the taciturn side. Maybe he'd struggled more in the alternative timeline than he was letting on. "Look –" Stephen began, but he was interrupted by the sounding of an alarm.

"What's that?" Cutter asked.

"The ADD," Stephen replied. "There's an anomaly."


	22. I belong in the field

**ABBY**  
"Miss Maitland," Jones said from the door.

"Captain Jones," Abby replied, grinning up at him. She stood up and went over to him, reaching up on tiptoes for a kiss. "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to thank a certain someone for an _exceptionally _enjoyable yesterday evening," Jones said with a smirk. "You quite tired me out."

"I try my best," Abby answered, returning the smirk. "Oh, hey, you should come in. There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Is there, now?" Jones shut the door behind him and followed her into the office.

"I've been thinking," she said, perching on the edge of the desk. "I'm bored outta my mind in Research. It used to be more about the creatures and that was exciting, but now it's all just theories and calculations and databases. Now that Cutter's back, I might try to transfer into Fieldwork. What d'you think?"

"I think it's about bloody time!" Jones replied, wrapping his arms around her in an enthusiastic hug. "You know I've wanted you on my team right from the start. Abby, you can do so much more than sit in an office all day listening to Temple's geeky babbling. You can be out there really making a difference." His eyes were shining as he looked down at her. "I think it's a great idea. I'm accepting your transfer request!"

Abby laughed; his enthusiasm was infectious. "Great! Oh, I can't _wait _to actually get outside and do something useful. I've been so jealous of you every time you go through one of those anomalies. Whenever I see pictures of the creatures you guys get to encounter, it's just... unbelievable."

Jones' expression darkened. "Yeah, well. If your old friend the professor has anything to say about it, it might be a while before we get to do anything like that again."

"Oh, I forgot." Abby bit her lip. "Still, at least I can help if there's an incursion, right?"

"Right." Jones tapped her nose. "You're so cute when you get excited about this stuff."

"Shut up," Abby said with a smile.

"Make me," he replied.

She obeyed, her arms encircling his neck, pulling him down to trap his mouth in a kiss. He did not object, ensnaring her waist and pulling her closer. Abby's eyes fluttered closed, the better to feel the clever work of his lips and tongue, the heat of him pressed against her. He broke away from her mouth and began to kiss down her neck.

Just as she felt his teeth brush her skin, an alarm began to sound. Jones lifted his lips from her with a curse and leaned his forehead against hers for a moment.

"We should go," she said gently.

"'We'?" he repeated, breathing a little harder than usual. "Would you like to begin your fieldwork this very day, Miss Maitland?"

"Captain Jones, I would love to."

* * *

"It's an abandoned construction site at the very edge of town," Connor was saying as they approached. "There shouldn't be anyone nearby."

"Have we got a visual?" Jones asked.

"No, there aren't any cameras within range. I can try for satellite feed and patch it through to you on your way. It'll probably take you at least half an hour to get there."

"Then we leave now," Jones said. He turned to Abby and clapped her on the shoulder. "Come and get suited up. Welcome to Fieldwork."

"Wait a minute, what?" Connor stared at them, satellite feeds all but forgotten. "Abby, what's he talking about?"

"I'm transferring," Abby replied. "Sorry, Con. I've decided Research isn't really for me."

"You can't do that!" Connor protested. "I need you in my division."

"What for?" Abby asked, exasperated. "I don't do anything except watch numbers crunch and play Solitaire. I wanna do something _useful_, Con. I belong in the field."

"No, you belong with me," Connor said emphatically. He paused and blushed, realising what he had said. "I mean... you can't just transfer without telling people about it. We need official notice! What if there's a fire drill and nobody knows where you are?"

Abby stared at him. "What're you on about? All right, fine; consider this your 'official notice'. Patch through those feeds." She turned to Jones, who was watching with his arms folded and an eyebrow raised. "Lead the way," Abby said, and followed after him.


	23. She hasn't just seen it

**CONNOR**  
He turned back to the detector's screen, unable to watch Abby trail after Jones like a lovesick puppy, unaware of the irony. Connor knew it was stupid, but he was hurt afresh every time he saw the two of them together, or Abby asked him to keep out of the flat for a night. He should have given up hope long ago, he knew. Jones and Abby had been together for over a year now, but sometimes, late at night in her flat, he couldn't help but imagine what could happen if things were different... The transfer had taken him completely by surprise, though. He wondered what he'd done wrong to deserve that. He thought Abby had been happy with him –

"What is it?" The commanding, slightly irritated tone could only belong to Lester. Connor mentally sighed and shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate on the screen in front of him.

"New anomaly on the edge of town. It's at a construction site that's supposed to be abandoned; I'm getting the satellite feed coming through now." He typed a few commands on the keyboard. A screen on his right went black, then became a pixellated bird's-eye view of London from several thousand miles up. "It might be a while before we can make anything out; it's in a really remote area."

"The Fieldwork Division is on their way?"

"Yes, sir," Connor muttered. "Complete with new recruit."

"And where is Claudia?"

Connor shrugged, not turning away from the screen. "I assume she's on her way. I don't know where she went after the meeting."

"Hm." Lester did not sound impressed.

"Connor? What've we got?" Cutter had arrived, with Stephen just behind him. Connor repeated everything he'd told Jones and Lester, still not looking away from his screen. The satellite image was slowly becoming more detailed, gradually zooming closer to the site. Eventually the four of them were able to make out the anomaly, shining in the gap between two crumbling walls. There were no people and no creatures in sight.

"Wait a minute," Cutter said, pointing at a flicker of movement on the edge of the screen. "What's that?"

Connor flicked his fingers, scrolling over to where Cutter had pointed. The image blurred for several moments, then refocused. There was a splash of bright blue standing out against the grey and brown of the construction site. Someone in a blue jacket was standing on top of a pile of bricks, looking around.

"My God," Cutter said. "It's a girl."

* * *

"Send Claudia down there immediately," Lester instructed crisply. "It's possible that she hasn't seen the anomaly yet. We need to divert her away from the site and question her."

"She's seen it, all right," Stephen said quietly. "Look a little closer." He pointed to several shadowy patches on the image, leading from the anomaly to the girl.

"What are they?" Connor asked.

"They're footsteps." It was Cutter who had spoken. "She hasn't just seen it. She came through it."

"Since when did the anomalies become a bloody thoroughfare?" Lester demanded. He rounded on Cutter. "Do you know her? Is she from the other... universe?"

"I'll ask her when we get there," Cutter answered. "Stephen, are you coming?"

He shook his head. "I'll sit this one out."

"All right. Connor, I need you with me. Bring all the measuring instruments you've got – magnetometers, spectrum analysers, Geiger counters, everything. Get someone else to babysit the ADD. If Lester's right and the girl is from another timeline, we need to learn everything about this anomaly that we possibly can."

"Right," Connor said, typing another command into the keyboard. An alert was sent out to every member of Research Division through both text and email, calling for them all to marshal in the detector room. The first to arrive was a woman named Francesca; he put her in charge of monitoring the ADD while he was away, and sent other teammates off to assemble the various devices they were going to use at the site. Within minutes, CARI had transformed into a hive of activity, with Connor at the centre. He smiled a little to himself as he continued typing and giving commands – it felt good to be in charge sometimes.

"We ready to go?" Cutter asked.

"Yep," Connor replied, shutting his laptop. "The satellite feed is being streamed to my laptop, so we can monitor it on the way. Everyone else is heading out, so we're good to go. Is Claudia coming?"

"As soon as she bothers to turn up, yes," Lester said. He had his arms crossed and was looking even more put out than usual. "I don't know where she is. It's most unlike her. Very unprofessional. We will have to have a discussion."

"Let's just go," Cutter said, and they went.


	24. I can tell by your clothes

**NICK**  
"Do you think Lester's right, Professor?" Connor asked as they drove out of the ARC at speed. "Is she from another universe?"

"I don't know," Cutter replied honestly. "I hope not. It'd create a whole host of problems – though maybe then Lester would believe me, at least. Most likely she's from around here, but just wandered in and back out again. How old does she look to you, eighteen?"

"If that," Connor answered, the laptop open on his lap. "Whoever she is, she's not doing much. Just standing there, looking around. She seems fascinated, though. Maybe she is new to here, from the medieval period or something?"

"She's not from the past, Connor. Look at her clothes."

"You never know, maybe she's from only a few years ago. Or maybe she's from a few years in the future."

"We'll find out when we get there," Cutter said, his eyes on the road. "Let me know what happens when Jones and his team arrive. Have you told them about the girl?"

"No. If any of them remembered to take their laptops they'll have seen her, though. I hooked them all up to the satellite feed."

"Call them," Cutter instructed. "Tell them to approach her gently and lead her away from the site if they can. They're not to scare her and not to detain her through force. We don't want her going back through the anomaly, but if she does, then that's it. Nobody follows."

"Got it." Connor pulled his phone from his pocket and made the call.

As Cutter drove, he tried hard to keep his thoughts focused, but it wasn't that easy. Claudia's face and voice and words floated in and out of his mind. _I live with my fiancé. It's really none of your business. Yes, I have moved on_. He remembered the fresh surge of horror and despair every word had brought on and felt it anew every time they replayed themselves in his mind. He tried to concentrate on driving, on the situation, on Connor arguing with Jones beside him, but it was Claudia, always Claudia, at the forefront of his mind, as she had been every day for a year.

Connor snapped the phone shut with a curse. "That man is unbelievable."

"What did he say?"

"He said I don't have the _authority _to give him and his team instructions. I told him they were from you, but he didn't seem to care. What she sees in him I'll never know."

"Yeah, join the club," Cutter muttered. "All right. Zoom out on the satellite feed and find us a short cut. We need to get there first."

* * *

It was close, but Connor's navigational skills and Cutter's somewhat reckless driving won out in the end. They pulled up at the construction site with a screech and jumped out of the car. The girl still hadn't moved; she stood serenely on top of the pile of bricks, her long blonde hair moving gently in the wind. _Maybe she's in shock_.

"Slowly," Cutter murmured as he and Connor approached her. She noticed them from several dozen feet away and turned to watch them as they approached, but didn't try to turn and run. Now that they were closer, Cutter could see that there was something a little different about her clothes; her pants were made of an elastic material that Cutter had never seen before, and the jacket was a strange design, with cuffs reaching to the elbow and a stiff collar around the neck. They were ten feet away, then five, then three. The girl was definitely no older than eighteen. She looked down at Cutter from on top of her brick pile, a gentle smile on her face.

"Hullo," she said. Her voice was very soft, with a hint of an Irish accent. "You have the aura about you. Can you see the sparklies too?"

Cutter blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"The sparklies." The girl gestured towards the anomaly, shimmering in the air behind her left shoulder. "The gateways. The portals. She called them anomalies, but I always used to think of them as sparklies. Most of the people in my world can't see them, but you can."

"Your world?" Cutter asked, totally lost.

"Terra." Her voice was breathy and calm, contrasting with Cutter's racing mind as he struggled to keep up. "You're not from there. I can tell by your clothes. This must be another universe, then. What do you call it here?"

"Erm... This is London. Earth."

"Earth!" The girl smiled. "I've been here before. This is her original universe, I think. Have you seen her? We've been travelling together for a while, but we got separated. I found a sparkly and thought she must have gone through it, but it only led me here."

Cutter stared at her, utterly uncomprehending. "Who are you?" he managed eventually.

"Evelyn. Evelyn Faye. Please, I really must find her." Though her words suggested uneasiness, her voice was as calm and soft and slow as ever. Cutter began to wonder if she was mad.

"Who?" he asked. "Who do you need to find?"

"My travelling companion," Evelyn replied. "She doesn't have the aura – her eyes aren't right – but she can see the sparklies anyway. I suppose everyone in your world can."

"What's her name?" the professor asked.

"Helen," the girl replied calmly. "Helen Cutter."


	25. Then we're asking him

**CLAUDIA**  
"It's about time you got down here," Lester said impatiently, beckoning her over to the ADD. "We have a serious situation and – are you all right?"

The question sounded most incongruous coming from him, and Claudia would have laughed if she'd been in the mood. If James Lester could tell she had been crying, then everyone else was certain to be able to. "I'm fine," she replied tersely, staring over Francesca's shoulder at the screen. "What's happening?"

"A _girl _has wandered through an anomaly." Lester's tone was so indignant it was as though she had done it purely to make things difficult for him. "The Fieldwork Division is on their way now, and Professor Cutter has decided to poke his nose into it, as usual. Half of Research is down there with all kinds of gadgets to measure the anomaly, but I need you to speak to the girl, figure out where she's from, and get her back there. If she's from around here, you know what to do. If not..."

"You mean she could be from another timeline?"

"It's a possibility, yes," Lester said testily, "but that doesn't mean it's true. _If_ that is the case, you are to bring her back here and we will question her. Now go – I don't want Professor Cutter dealing with her alone. I don't trust him not to mess the whole thing up."

* * *

She pulled up beside several other CARI vehicles and strode over to where Connor, Jones, Abby and several of their Fieldwork and Research colleagues were gathered. Connor and Jones appeared to be arguing – not that that was anything new. "What's going on?" she asked, approaching them. "Where's Professor Cutter?"

Connor broke off his tirade and turned to Claudia, exasperation written all over his features. "Cutter's talking to Evelyn, _alone_. He doesn't want to be interrupted. Is that so hard for you to accept, Captain Jones? If we scare her back through that anomaly then we lose her and everything she knows."

"Who is she?" Claudia asked before Jones could reply.

"Her name's Evelyn Faye. She's from a parallel universe."

Claudia felt sick. _Cutter was telling the truth_. "What else do we know?"

Connor shook his head. "Nothing."

"Nothing at all?" Claudia's eyes narrowed. Connor wouldn't meet her eyes, and kept glancing over his shoulder to where Cutter was talking to the girl. _Evelyn_, Claudia reminded herself. _Evelyn Faye from a parallel universe_.

"Well, her universe is a little... different," Connor said slowly. "She claims to have this thing called the 'aura', which lets her see the anomalies, because apparently not everyone can in her universe."

"I don't have time for this," Jones said, exasperated. "We should take her back to CARI and deal with her there. We need to establish a perimeter in case anything else comes through."

"Do we know what's on the other side?" Claudia asked.

Connor shook his head. "She might've told Cutter, but –"

"Then we're asking him." Jones pushed past Connor and stalked over to where Cutter and the girl were standing. Abby followed after him, and soon the rest of Fieldwork, armed with guns and vests, were on their way too.

Connor swore. "Who does he think he is? I swear, if he chases her back through, I'll –"

"Leave it, Connor," Claudia said, and followed Jones and the others.

"We need to set up a military perimeter," Jones was saying. "There could be all kinds of creatures waiting on the other side of that anomaly."

Cutter looked from Evelyn to the captain, to Abby, to Claudia and then away. "All right," he said at last. "Evelyn. Will you come with me?"

"Come back to CARI," Claudia suggested. She saw Cutter flinch at her words.

"We do what Evelyn wants," he said, without looking at Claudia. Evelyn, on the other hand, was staring at her so intensely she began to feel uncomfortable under the girl's gaze. Her eyes, Claudia realised, were exactly the same colour as Nick's.

Eventually the girl turned back to Nick. "Okay," she said eventually. "I'll go with you. We can go with the lady. She doesn't have the aura, though." Her voice was soft, her expression serious. Claudia was struggling. _She comes from another universe_.

"Thank God," Cutter murmured. He closed his eyes briefly before continuing: "Her name is Claudia. Claudia, this is Evelyn. She comes from Terra. Wait for me at the car; I'll be there soon." He turned to Connor, who was looking on anxiously, and began to mutter a string of low, urgent directions.

"Right," Claudia said, turning to the strange girl who had appeared out of an anomaly from another world. "Shall we?"


	26. It's just a precaution

**CONNOR**  
The moment Claudia and the others were out of earshot, Cutter dropped the pretense of muttering instructions. "Did you tell them?" he asked urgently.

"No," Connor replied. "You told me not to."

Cutter gave a short sigh of relief. "Thank you." He put a hand on Connor's shoulder. "You understand why I'm doing this, don't you?"

"Er..." _Not really, Professor_, Connor thought. _The last time you tried to hide this from us, Lester found out and arrested her. Not to mention the fact that everyone was cross with you for ages, and Claudia didn't trust you again for a really long time_.

"Because if they knew, they would detain Evelyn and interrogate her. They would milk her for every drop of information she has, and they wouldn't care how they went about it. If we keep it between the two of us for now, we still have the chance to learn all she knows about parallel universe travel, as well as where Helen is, without her getting hurt. She's sworn not to tell anyone else." Cutter dropped his hand from Connor's shoulder and looked over to where Claudia and Evelyn were getting into the car. "I have to go. Let me know if anything changes. And... keep an eye on Jones, will you?"

"I always do," Connor muttered as Cutter hurried off.

He was kept busy for a few minutes organising his Research team. They'd brought every piece of monitoring equipment they had at CARI, and he watched with a critical eye as they set it all up around the anomaly. Eventually he had the setup perfect, each of the devices streaming information straight to his laptop and then to CARI's database as it was gathered. Looking up from his laptop screen, perched on the same brick pile Evelyn had been standing on, Connor had to smile. It wasn't every day that you were in charge of gathering data for a secret government organisation, after all.

His smile lasted exactly three seconds before a shadow fell over him and he looked up at Captain Jones.

"Sorry, Temple, but you're gonna have to pack up your little geek-fest. No civilians within a five-klick radius and that means you."

Connor glared up at him. "You're not in charge here, Captain. I've got a job to do that's every bit as important as yours."

Jones snorted. "Yeah, right," he said. "Fine, you can stay. But if you get eaten by a raptor, don't say I didn't warn you." He looked over Connor's head at someone behind him and wolf-whistled. "Mm. The uniform suits you."

Connor didn't have to turn around to know who Jones was talking to. He heard Abby laugh as she picked her way over to him. Connor tried not to, but he couldn't help glancing up at her. Jones was right – she did look good – but what worried him a good deal more was the weapon she held in her hands.

"What is that?" he asked, standing up so he didn't have to crane his neck.

Abby glanced at him. "Did you think Alex'd send me out empty-handed? It's only a tranquilliser, Con. I'm not going to be harming the creatures, don't worry."

"I'm not worried about the creatures; I'm worried about _you_." Connor glared at Jones. "Are you mad? Cutter specifically said no-one's to go through."

"It's just a precaution, Con," Abby said. "In case something comes through to us."

"It's not a precaution – it's unsafe!" Connor protested. "You haven't had any sort of training – you're not prepared – fieldwork is dangerous – you can't just grab the nearest gun you can find and expect to suddenly know how to fight off a pack of dinosaurs!"

"Oh yeah? Watch me."

"No, I won't watch you," Connor retorted angrily. "I'm not letting you transfer out of my division. Do you understand? I'm in charge; I have the right to say who's in and who's out, and I'm not letting you out!"

"Stop acting like a kid, Connor!" Abby exclaimed. "You have no right to tell me what I can and can't do, and if Alex wants me in his division, then that's it."

"He only wants you in his division so that he can stare at your arse in those pants!" Connor shouted, furious beyond all rational thought. It wasn't bloody fair – Captain Alex God-damned Jones always got his way, _always_, ever since he'd turned up with his bloody blue eyes and his bloody muscles and his bloody American accent. Whenever he asked for anything Abby would jump at the chance to give it to him, heedless of whatever danger she might end up in as a result. It had been that way for over a year and Connor was sick of it. He cared about her a thousand times more than Captain Jones ever would, and it was time he started to show it.

Maybe this wasn't the best way to go about it, though.

"How dare you!" Abby screamed, her grip tightening worryingly on the gun in her hands. "Connor, you're such a... such a _child_! Don't you dare come back to the flat tonight after all of this is over. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you out altogether!"

"Because –" The words lodged in his throat. He knew them, he'd known them for years, but now wasn't the time to say them, not when Captain Alex God-damned Jones was looking on with his God-damned smirk. He snatched his laptop off the pile of bricks and slammed it shut. "I'm gonna go sit in the car," he muttered, and stalked away, listening to Jones laughing behind his back as he went.


	27. I hope she will understand

**NICK**  
He was more than a little relieved to see Evelyn in the passenger seat with her belt buckled, looking relatively calm. Claudia was in the back, which surprised him a little, but he took the driver's seat without question – without looking at her. "How are you feeling, Evelyn?" he asked as he turned the car on. "Do you mind if I tell Claudia about the aura?"

"I don't mind," Evelyn said in her soft voice. "I hope she will understand."

"Yeah, so do I." As Cutter turned to reverse away from the site, he unintentionally caught Claudia's gaze. He saw, in the fraction of a second before he looked away, the slightly smudged mascara around her eyes and felt a stab of satisfaction that he was instantly ashamed of.

"The aura has different meanings in different universes," Cutter began. "In some, like Evelyn's, it allows a person to see the anomalies where they would otherwise not be able to. Obviously, in our universe, that's not relevant. What _is _relevant is that only a person who has the aura is able to cross from universe to universe."

"So you have this... aura."

"Yes," Cutter replied. "You don't. Which makes you safe."

"How can you tell?" Claudia asked.

"I can't, but Evelyn can. She's said there are some physical clues, though. Everyone with the aura will have blue eyes. That may then lead to the ability to discern on a genetic level whether or not a certain person has the aura, but for now we can assume that everyone who doesn't have blue eyes is safe."

"We should have Evelyn check all of the fieldwork team and then the rest of CARI's staff," Claudia said. "If that's all right with you, Evelyn, of course."

"What is CARI?" the girl asked.

"It's our base of operations." It was Cutter who spoke. "It's a big building with about a hundred people, but we won't make you talk to anyone if you don't want to."

"I don't have to talk to them," Evelyn said. "I can tell just by looking."

"Could you teach us how?" Claudia asked.

Evelyn was quiet for a moment. "I don't think so," she said eventually. "I don't think people from your world have that power. You can see the sparklies, but not the aura. It balances out that way."

"Okay." Claudia nodded.

"There's more," Cutter said as they drove. "Evelyn says that the aura is temporarily transferable. That means that if, say, she were to take your hand and step through an anomaly with you, you could also be transported to another universe. If she then let your hand go and you stepped back through, you could do it again. She doesn't know exactly how long aura transfer lasts, but it can be for up to an hour after any sort of close physical contact. That means that it's not just the people with the aura is danger, it's anyone who touches them."

_It also explains how Helen was able to enter the alternative timeline with me_, he thought. _Because we'd been in contact long enough __for me_ to temporarily grant her the aura. It might also explain why she's been travelling with Evelyn – because she wants to explore all the different parallel universes too. That didn't surprise him. Helen Cutter always wanted more – first it was the past, then she needed the future as well, and now she wanted whole universes at her fingertips. Well, nobody had ever said she lacked determination. If Cutter was being honest with himself, it had been what had drawn him to her in the first place.

"Is there anything else we know?" Claudia asked. "Where does the anomaly in the construction site lead?"

"Mid-Paleogene, Evelyn thinks. That's about forty million years ago. It's after the K-Pg extinction event, obviously, so there are no dinosaurs, but a lot of really interesting mammalian and avian evolution is going on. It's one of the latest periods in history we've had an anomaly lead to so far – discounting the near present or the future, of course."

"Any danger of a creature incursion?"

"It's possible, but it shouldn't be anything too dangerous or difficult to deal with. Evelyn's also said that the anomaly looks fairly unstable, so it probably won't be open for too much longer."

"Right." Claudia paused. "Cutter, if there was an anomaly that led to a parallel universe, would somebody without the... aura be able to see it?"

Cutter looked to Evelyn for an answer. "It's not that simple," the girl said. "The trouble with inter-world travel is that some sparklies will let you do it, some won't, and others change their minds on and off. So if a person with the aura went through, they could end up in another universe, but if a person without the aura tried to follow after a while, they'd just end up in a different time."

"Can you tell where an anomaly leads just by looking at it?" Claudia asked.

"No," Evelyn replied. "That's why you need the anchor if you don't want to go inter-world."

"The anchor?"

Evelyn held up her right arm and pulled down the sleeve of her strange jacket. On her wrist was a thick ring, almost like a cuff, of what looked like metal, but not any metal they had on Earth. It seemed at first to absorb light, then reflect it; it was blacker than any pure metal Claudia had ever seen, and she had the uncomfortable sense that it was slowly drawing her in. "It's made of antimetal," Evelyn said. "It stops sparklies from pulling you into different universes."

"Do you know how to make one?" Cutter asked.

Evelyn shook her head. "I found this in another world. We don't have antimetal back at home, and I don't think you have it here, either."

"We should get Connor to run some tests," Claudia said. "Maybe we can find a substitute metal that would work."

"Yeah, maybe." They had reached CARI. "All right. Claudia, you go first and get Lester off our backs. Tell him we're taking Evelyn to the medical bay for checks and we are not to be disturbed."

"He's not going to be happy," Claudia warned him.

"I don't care," Cutter replied.


	28. There's a lot of interference

**CLAUDIA**  
She hadn't been wrong – Lester had not been happy. He'd almost lost his temper and really shouted at her, but in the end had to settle for muttered threats. Cutter may have been incorrigible, he'd said (and she'd agreed), but the girl knew too much for them to risk anything. He had, however, told her on no uncertain terms that she was to be present at all times at their meeting, and that she was to report every word that passed between them onto him.

She arrived at the medical bay just as Dr Murphy was finishing Evelyn's check up. "Well, Miss Faye, you're perfectly healthy," he said, a wide smile on his honest face. "You're a little young to be travelling alone, though. Are you going to be returning to your family soon?"

"I don't have a family," Evelyn replied. "My parents always thought I was crazy because I tried to tell them about the sparklies. I've been travelling for years with... without anybody else. I can take care of myself."

She looked over at Cutter, who gave an almost imperceptible nod. Almost imperceptible – but nothing escaped Claudia's gaze. Her eyes narrowed. There was definitely something going on here.

"Will that be all, Professor Cutter?" Dr Murphy asked.

"Not quite." Cutter got up from the edge of the bed and walked to where Dr Murphy was standing. He leaned close to the doctor and murmured something in a voice too low for the others to hear. The doctor was evidently surprised, and looked at Cutter for a long few moments before replying in an equally quiet voice. Claudia was becoming less and less comfortable with all of this secrecy, but Evelyn didn't seem to be bothered at all. She sat on the bed with her hands clasped in her lap, swinging her legs like a little child.

"All right. Let me know," Cutter said. The doctor nodded and exited the room, leaving the three of them alone. Cutter pulled out a chair for Claudia and another for himself. They sat down across from Evelyn and Cutter began.

"So what else can you tell us about the anomalies?"

"What do you need to know?" Evelyn asked.

"Do you know why they appear? Can you tell where they lead?"

Evelyn tilted her head. "I've never really thought about why. Back on Terra, I spent enough trouble wondering if I was crazy. When I eventually realised I wasn't, that was enough. I can't tell you where they lead, either, unless you want me to stick my head through."

Cutter shook his head. "No, we don't want that. What if I asked you where all the anomalies in London were right now? Could you give me locations? Can you tell when one opens or closes?"

Evelyn frowned in concentration. "They have an aura, too," she said eventually. "You can tell when you're close to one. It's hard, though. There's a lot of interference."

"Interference? From what?"

"From that, and that, and that." Evelyn pointed out several machines around the room. "Anything with metal. Refrigerators are especially bad."

"Magnetism," Cutter said with a nod. "So the aura is something to do with magnetism?"

Evelyn tugged at the bracelet around her wrist, the frown returning. "Maybe," she said slowly, sounding unsure. "People aren't magnetic, though. So that doesn't really make sense."

"You're right," Cutter agreed. A flicker of concern crossed his face when Evelyn rubbed her eyes. "Are you all right?"

"I'm a little tired," the girl said. "I don't think I've slept for a few days."

Cutter stood up immediately. "We'll leave you to rest, then. Will you be all right here? Is there anything you need?"

"No." Evelyn pulled the blanket up over her legs, then held out a hand. "Wait. What's your name?"

"Er..." Cutter seemed to hesitate longer than the question required. "I'm Nick."

"Nick?" the girl repeated. There was a short pause. Then: "That's a nice name. Thank you for taking care of me, Nick."

"You're welcome, Evelyn," Cutter replied. He glanced over at Claudia, then gestured towards the door. "Come with me," he said. "I have to tell you something."


	29. Then she could arrive any minute

**NICK**  
He could feel his heart racing as he led Claudia into the hallway, trying in vain to convince himself that this was the right thing to do. He could feel, too, her reluctance as she followed him. "We should report to Lester," she began, but he shook his head violently before she could go on.

"No," he said. "Wait. You need to hear this."

"Cutter, if this is about this morning –"

"It's not about this morning," Cutter said quietly. "It's about Helen."

She stared at him. "What?"

"The last time I hid something like this from you, you were furious. So I'm telling you, because it's the right thing to do, but it needs to stay between us. Do you understand?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Evelyn hasn't been travelling alone," Cutter said, his voice low and urgent. He was constantly glancing up and down the hallway, terrified of being overheard. "She's been travelling with Helen, all through the different universes. Helen's been taking care of her, she says."

"_What_?" Claudia yelled. Cutter flinched – the shout was loud enough to carry halfway across the building. "How long have you known?"

"About half an hour longer than you have," Cutter answered quietly. "Claudia, calm down; let me explain. I couldn't tell anyone in front of Jones and his team because I don't trust him, and I couldn't tell you before we got here because I knew you would tell Lester. Listen, if word gets out that Evelyn's been travelling with Helen, they will lock her up and interrogate her for information. She's too young to deal with that. Lester would show no mercy, and I'm not about to let that happen."

"Cutter, we can't –"

"We can and we are. We keep this between us, understand? Connor knows, but he's sworn not to tell, just as Evelyn has."

"Cutter, no." It was Claudia's business voice, the one she used to use whenever she was relaying orders from her boss. "Lester and the others need to know. This isn't just about us or the girl. This is about the safety of our entire universe."

"It _is _about the girl," Cutter insisted. "Evelyn is the best source of anomaly information we have. If we let Lester detain her, we risk losing everything she knows. She's skittish, she's not from here; she wouldn't respond to that. We can ask her about Helen, too. Just not where people can hear us."

Claudia shook her head. "I don't like this. Where's Helen now? Where did Evelyn last see her?"

"They were separated in the Paleogene. I don't know where she is now."

"Then she could arrive any minute!" Claudia's hand flew to her pocket and she dug out her phone. "I'm calling Captain Jones. He and all of his men need to be warned."

"What are you going to tell them to do? Shoot her?"

"What do you suggest I tell them?" Claudia demanded angrily. "I can't just sit back and leave them vulnerable! There are good people down there, Cutter; Connor and Abby as well as the rest of the team. Helen is a danger to them all and they need to be warned!"

"Claudia, please," Cutter implored her. "It's unlikely that Helen will come through. Evelyn said she wandered for hours before she found the anomaly that led her here, and if she came from a parallel universe then that makes it impossible for Helen to cross. What does she have to come through for, anyway?"

"The same thing she came through for last time," Claudia replied bitingly. "To stir up trouble."

Cutter ran a hand through his hair. "Please," he said again. "I'm trusting you with this. If they find out Evelyn's been in league with Helen, even harmlessly, they will hurt her. You've heard the way she talks, Claudia; she's fragile enough as it is. If Lester's men get her hands on her..."

Claudia stared hard at the phone in her hand, her knuckles whitening with the force of her grip. Cutter held his breath, looking on, almost able to hear the argument going back and forth in her mind. Eventually, though, she relaxed, her whole body slumping as she let out a sigh. "Fine," she muttered. "Just this once, Cutter. But I think we're making a mistake."

"Thank you," Cutter said, his relief evident. He let himself smile, though he had to hold back the urge to hug her. _Claudia Brown_, he couldn't help but think, _this is why I love you_. He searched for something more appropriate to fill the silence. _She's engaged_, he had to remind himself, feeling the blow afresh. "I promise," he said, "if it turns out we're wrong, you can punish me however you like."

"Don't worry," Claudia said, sliding her phone back into her pocket. "If it turns out we're wrong, either Lester will kill us both, or Helen will."


	30. You're a good friend

**CONNOR**  
At half past two in the afternoon, the construction site anomaly closed. Connor, watching raw data being compiled on his screen, was the first to detect the surging change in magnetic activity that preceded the closing. By the time Captain Jones was shouting for everyone to look, Connor already knew. Within seconds, there was no indication that a sparkling rip in time had ever existed there at all.

Except for the trail of footsteps in the dirt leading from the anomaly to where Connor now sat, and then to where Cutter had driven away with Claudia and the girl. Connor triple-checked that he'd saved all the data to his laptop, then closed it and walked over to where his Research teammates were beginning to pack up their equipment. "Good work, everyone," he said to them. "We got a lot of useful stuff today."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jones giving instructions to his team as well. Abby was among them, already looking like she'd been doing Fieldwork her whole life. Connor felt his stomach turn over when he remembered their latest conversation; he'd seen Abby angry several times over the last few years, but never as angry as that. It was going to take some serious work to get back in her good books. He could be doing the washing-up for a whole _year_.

_Might as well start now_, he thought. When they were done packing up, he walked over to her and cleared his throat. "Um... Did you want me to give you a lift back to CARI?"

She looked over to Jones and Connor expected her to refuse. To his surprise, though, she nodded and said, "Yeah, sure. I'll just tell Alex we're leaving."

Connor smiled. "Great! I'll, um... I'll go start up the car." He jogged away, feeling pleased with himself. He must have misjudged her – maybe she wasn't as angry as he'd thought.

Waiting in the driver's seat for Abby to finish up talking to Jones, Connor gave a huge yawn and rubbed his eyes. He was beginning to regret his all-night gaming session. The yank on his passenger door took him by surprise and he jumped, then smiled as Abby climbed in. "Okay. Off we go!" he announced. Abby was unusually subdued, but he didn't say anything. She was probably as tired as he was... though from a different sort of all-night session.

_I have_ got _to stop thinking about that_, Connor mentally berated himself. He reached out to turn the radio up, but Abby touched his wrist. Instantly, Connor froze, his entire consciousness concentrated on that one single point of contact: they were practically holding hands. "Wait," she said. "We need to talk."

Connor swallowed and retracted his arm. _Here we go_, he thought. "Right. Abby, about what happened... Look, I'm really sorry for what I said about Jones. I just... I care about you, all right?" He made some sort of gesture with one hand off the steering wheel, not sure what it was trying to convey. "I worry that something might happen to you. I know you can take care of yourself, and I didn't mean to say, you know, all that stuff. I just..." He took a deep breath and followed it up with an even deeper sigh. "It'd kill me if I lost you like Cutter lost Claudia," he said. "I don't want that to happen. I don't know what I'd do."

Abby was silent for a long time. Connor didn't look at her, terrified that she'd be laughing at him. He knew Abby knew he liked her – she'd known for ages – but he'd never said it in quite so many words. The silence dragged out until it definitely crossed the border into awkward, then nerve-wracking, then plain terrifying. Why wasn't she saying anything? Connor opened his mouth to ask, or to apologise, anything, but she interrupted him before he'd even begun to speak.

"I want you to move out of the flat, Connor."

His heart stopped beating.

"What?"

"You heard what I said." Connor took his eyes off the road to look at her, but she wouldn't award him the same courtesy, staring out the window instead. "I talked about it with Alex last night, and invited him to move in just now."

Connor had to consciously remind himself to breathe as he attempted to digest this. "I... Wait," he said. "You can't do that. I pay rent!"

"Connor, you haven't paid your rent in six months. Alex and I have been going out for over a year." Abby smoothed the fabric of her pants, still not looking at him. "You had to know this was going to happen sooner or later," she said. "Can you just stay at whoever's place you stayed at last night?"

"Sure." Connor heard himself acquiescing and didn't quite believe it. _What are you doing_? his mind screamed at him. _You have nowhere to go. Do you really want to live in an office for the rest of your life_? Even as he yelled at himself, he knew there was nothing else to be done. He loved Abby, and he would do anything for her. Including this.

"Sure," he repeated, saying it again to make it more real to himself. "Can you... can you give me a few days to sort of... sort things out? I'll have to ask, you know, that friend that I stayed with last night."

"Sure," Abby said. There was a lot of agreeing happening. "Sure. That's fine. Thanks, Connor. You're a good friend."

_A good friend_. The words stung him more than what she'd shouted at him before. _A good friend is all I'll ever be_. He felt tears prick at his eyes, and drove the rest of the way in silence.


	31. Been a long few days

**NICK**  
After all of the Research and Fieldwork teams had returned, a second meeting was held in the small directors' lounge. Captain Jones was smiling infuriatingly, Connor looked like he was holding back tears, and Lester was scowling around at each of them as though they were all personally responsible for the morning's events. "Professor Cutter," he began, turning the glare on him, "how is the girl doing?"

"Her name is Evelyn Faye," Cutter answered. "She's currently in the medical bay, sleeping. She's had a very harrowing last few hours and is not to be disturbed."

"Oh, naturally," Lester replied, gritting his teeth. "And what has she told you that could be of use?"

Cutter cleared his throat in preparation. "Evelyn is not from our universe," he began. "In her universe, the planet Earth is called Terra. She refers to the anomalies as 'sparklies' and claims that not everyone can see them – only people with a special ability known as the aura."

Jones snorted derisively, then feigned surprise when everyone turned to look at him. "What? Oh, please. You don't all actually believe this rubbish?"

"Carry on, Professor," was all Lester said.

Cutter bit down on a satisfied smile. "The aura allows people in Evelyn's world to see the anomalies, and also grants them the ability to travel between universes. This explains why I ended up in the alternative timeline – I have the aura too. Evelyn can tell who possesses it and who doesn't, but the only physical clue we know for the rest of us to use is that everyone with the aura will have blue eyes."

Lester was still frowning. "Is that all?"

"Not quite," Cutter said. "The aura is temporarily transferable. If I took Claudia's hand and jumped with her through an anomaly, she could be transported into another universe even though she lacks the aura herself." His imagination immediately went into overdrive, picturing the two of them moving through anomaly after anomaly – a different time or a different world every day, having adventures, solving mysteries, finding fantastical creatures. This led to a far more confusing train of thought: had Helen wanted this with him? And if he had still considered her his wife back then, why hadn't he wanted it with her?

"Professor Cutter?" Lester prompted impatiently.

Nick jumped, taken by surprise. "Sorry," he said, not looking at Claudia. "Been a long few days." He cleared his throat. "Uh... So, as I was saying, the aura can be temporarily transferred to others. This means that inter-universe travel poses a danger not just to those with the aura, but to anyone close to them. We can't lift the ban on anomaly travel yet."

"Seriously?" Jones demanded.

"Seriously," Cutter replied flatly. "It's too dangerous. You mightn't know what it's like to be stranded in an alternative timeline, but I do, and you don't want to have to go through that."

Jones sat back with his arms folded and his chin jutting forward, daring Cutter to challenge him. The professor seriously considered it for a moment before shaking his head and continuing.

"As dangerous as the aura can be, Evelyn's found a way to negate its power. She's wearing a bracelet she found in a different universe, made of something she calls antimetal. It prevents the wearer from travelling inter-universe when stepping into an anomaly. So far, she has the only one that we know of in our universe, but we may be able to find a similar substance and construct our own. Connor, I'm hoping the Research Division can help me with that."

"What?" Connor glanced up, looking as though he'd zoned out completely, much as Cutter had. "Uh... of course, Professor."

"We'll talk later," Cutter said. "I want to go over the data you got today."

Connor nodded.

"That's all from me," Cutter said. "Tomorrow, I'll ask Evelyn a little more about what she knows. Understand this, though –" he looked straight at Lester "– _we cannot push her_. She's from a long way away, alone, young, and scared. If she doesn't want to tell us something, she doesn't tell."

"You seem awfully attached to this girl, Professor Cutter," Lester observed.

That stopped him for a moment. He _was _attached to Evelyn, for reasons he couldn't quite name – she was so delicate that he felt an almost instinctual need to protect her, but it was more than that. Maybe they shared an innate bond over the aura, or maybe he was simply desperate to keep her – and everything she knew – safe. "She's got no family," he said eventually. "She's alone in a universe in which she doesn't belong. I know how that feels, and it isn't pleasant. If I can do anything to alleviate that, to make her feel more comfortable, I will."

He stood up, feeling almost embarrassed. "Meeting's over," he said. "Connor, I'm coming up to your office. The rest of you I'll probably see tomorrow, after I've talked to Evelyn again." He ushered Connor out of the room before any of the others could make a snide remark. He didn't look back – not at the irritated Lester, or the sneering Jones, and definitely not at Claudia, who was staring at him with something very close to a smile.


	32. Yeah, I do

**CONNOR**  
"Do you want to talk about what's wrong?" Cutter asked.

Connor looked up at him and blinked. They were sitting on the beanbags in his office, scrolling through and discussing the data that the Research Division had gathered that day. He hadn't mentioned anything about Abby or Jones; in fact, he'd never discussed anything personal with Cutter at all. "Professor?" he said, confused.

Cutter looked up from his laptop. "Sorry. You just looked like you had something on your mind. You keep trailing off in the middle of your sentences."

"Oh." Connor hesitated for a moment. "Er... well, you know I've been living in Abby's flat for the past few years, yeah?"

"The one with the unusually warm thermostat. Yeah, Stephen told me."

"Right." Connor blushed. "Well, she wants me to move out. She told me this morning. Came as a bit of a shock, that's all."

"I see," Cutter said. "Do you have somewhere you can stay?"

"Yeah, course." Connor waved a hand. "Course I do. I'll find somewhere. She's given me a couple of days before Jones moves in." He couldn't stop the bitterness from creeping into his voice.

"Ah." Cutter nodded. "So they're, erm... dating, aren't they?"

"Yeah, it's been a bit more than a year." The professor was evidently uncomfortable at talking about this; Connor would have smiled, but his thoughts were elsewhere, and he launched into a rant instead. "I should've seen it coming, I guess. I don't really have any reason to be angry at either of them – but I am! Jones just gets under my skin. He's rude, he's thoughtless, and he..." Connor sighed in frustration. "She deserves better than him, that's all. She deserves someone like..."

"You?" Cutter supplied.

Connor winced. "I am a bit obvious, aren't I?"

"Only a little bit." Cutter grinned. "I'm sorry to hear that, Connor. I know how it feels to not have a home."

"Are you staying with Stephen?"

"In the meantime, yes."

"Maybe I'll ask him if I can kip on the couch," Connor said.

Cutter stared at him.

Connor stared back, confused. "What? I don't get in the way. Ask Abby; I can be a good housemate! I'll do the washing-up and everything." When Cutter's wide-eyed expression didn't change, Connor shrugged and changed the subject. "Was there... a particular reason why you asked, Professor? You don't usually talk about this sort of stuff, is all."

"You just looked like you'd heard someone died," Cutter said frankly.

"Oh," Connor said. "Well, I haven't, so that's good, at least. Right?"

"Right." Cutter nodded. "We should get back to work."

* * *

Late in the day, when they'd finished looking over data and discussing theories, Connor drove home to the flat to begin the long process of clearing out. Over the last almost four years, Abby's flat had become more of a home to Connor than any other house he'd ever lived in. It was second nature now to remove three or four layers of clothing before he entered and to make sure every window and door was shut at all times, though he did struggle with remembering to put the toilet seat down on occasion. He didn't own a lot of stuff – mostly clothes, comics and games – but everything he had and everything he was was here.

"Afternoon, Rex," he said to the Coelurosauravus, who chirped a greeting back at him. With a long sigh, Connor knelt down in front of the TV cabinet and began to pull out the myriad video games he had alphabetised in there. He remembered modelling a Skyrim character on Abby, beating Dragon Age for the first time the night after he rescued her from a raptor, trying in vain to convince her to play co-op Star Wars: Battlefront. She had imprinted herself on all of his possessions, which he supposed was fitting because she was imprinted on his heart. God, he needed to stop reading all of Ashley Williams' favourite poets. He was beginning to _think _like one.

There was a scuffling on the stairs outside and Connor turned around, wondering if it was a dinosaur or simply his housemate. He heard the tinkling of keys and, deciding on the latter, turned back to the cabinet to continue clearing his stuff out. He heard the door swing open and Abby stumble, giggling, into the room. A second pair of footsteps followed very quickly after the first and he looked over his shoulder again, knowing what he would see.

Abby was suddenly sandwiched between her boyfriend and the wall, her hands in his hair as Jones kissed her thoroughly. Connor watched him slide a hand up Abby's thigh and under her shirt, and felt a wave of heat rush over him at the sound she made in response. He cleared his throat to alert them to his presence, but they didn't hear him; he could see the white skin beneath Abby's shirt as Jones tugged it upwards. Connor swallowed, unable to avert his gaze. _What the hell are you doing?_ his mind screamed. _Stop it! Now!_

He reached out blindly and sent the pile of games scattering all over the floor.

That, at last, was loud enough. Abby yelped and pushed Jones' hands away, shoving him to the side to find the source of the noise. "Oh, shit," she said, when her eyes fell on Connor. "Hi. I didn't realise..." She tugged her shirt down, a blush rising in her cheeks to match Connor's. "Hi," she said again, short of breath and lost for words. "We'll... just go up to my room."

"No, it's okay," Connor said, gathering up the video games and stuffing them into the bag he'd brought. "I was just on my way out."

"You don't have to –" Abby began.

"Yeah, I do." Before she could say anything else, he brushed past the two of them and was out the door.


	33. Have a good evening

**NICK**  
As he was on his way to Stephen's office to leave, he heard his name being called.

"Professor Cutter!"

It was a woman's voice – not Claudia's, though. He knew Claudia's voice. Cutter frowned and turned to see the psychologist striding down the hallway towards him. He struggled to remember her name.

"Dr Shepard," she said with a smile, before he had to ask. "You still haven't been to see me in my office, Professor."

"Something sort of came up today," Cutter replied.

"I understand that." She nodded. "I would like to speak with Evelyn, too, if that's all right with her."

"Evelyn doesn't need a psychologist. I don't need a psychologist. Neither of us need a psychologist. I have a job to do, and Evelyn just wants to be left alone." Cutter was speaking through clenched teeth. He did not do psychologists.

"Forgive me, Professor, but have you asked her that yourself? Perhaps such a young girl could use somebody to talk to."

Cutter stared at her. _Who asked you to get involved? _he was thinking irritatedly. That was the problem with these sorts of people – they were always trying to stick their noses in places they didn't belong. The woman whom James Lester had hired in the alternative timeline had spent half of their sessions dragging up the worst of Cutter's memories and the other half trying to convince him that the woman he loved had never existed.

"It's up to you, of course, Professor," Dr Shepard said. "You're the closest thing young Evelyn has to a legal guardian, and I wouldn't want to come between you."

She sounded sincere, at least. Her words had taken Cutter by surprise, though. "I'm her legal guardian? Wait a minute – how do you know all this?"

Dr Shepard smiled again. "It's my job to know my clients, Professor Cutter."

"I'm not your client," he snapped.

She raised her eyebrows slightly in response, but did not address it directly. "You are the closest thing to her legal guardian, yes," she said instead. "Officially, she does not exist in this world. She does not appear in any legal records, either by name or by face. I had one of the members of Research Division look this up," she added, preempting his question, "because Sir Lester was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that she is from a parallel universe."

That caught Cutter's attention. "So you believe it?"

Dr Shepard gave a quiet laugh. "Professor, I would not be of much use as a counsellor if I didn't believe what my clients told me. We've already been dealing with tears in the fabric of space-time; I hardly think confirmation of the multiverse hypothesis is too much of a stretch." She smirked at his shocked face. "I dabbled in all sorts of quantum physics at university, Professor Cutter. I daresay I know even more about parallel universes than you or young Master Temple do."

"But not Evelyn," Cutter said.

The psychologist nodded. "But not Evelyn. Which is why I would like to see her, given her permission – and yours. But my official job here is to work with the staff, and she's not a member of staff. You, on the other hand, are."

Cutter shook his head emphatically. "I'm sorry, Dr Shepard. It's been nice talking to you, but I really don't do psychologists."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Do you really want to know?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't, Professor Cutter."

Cutter gave a short, annoyed sigh. "Okay," he began. "I've been to see two psychologists in my life. One was almost ten years ago, after my wife disappeared. He was trying to console me and convince me to move on, but I was never good at doing what I'm told, and it grated on me that he would try to instruct me on how to grieve. Helen was my wife; he knew nothing about her and nothing about me. Back then, I was still convinced that her disappearance was my fault. He kept trying to convince me otherwise, and eventually I yelled at him to get out of my office. He didn't come back.

"The second was a woman hired by James Lester in the alternative timeline. Lester didn't believe me when I told him about Claudia Brown; he was convinced that I had gone insane. The psychologist shared his belief, and it was beyond frustrating trying to get them to understand that _I was telling the truth_."

Saying it now, to Dr Shepard, Cutter was almost shouting. It had been almost as bad as Claudia's disappearance itself, spending several hours a week being told that she was simply a figment of his imagination. "I loved her, and they didn't understand that – they couldn't see that. They thought I'd gone mad, but what was really driving me mad was trying to show them I _wasn't_. This time, the woman actually walked out of her own office. All I learned from either of them was that psychologists and I don't mix."

Dr Shepard nodded. "I see," she said. "Thank you, Professor Cutter. If you do feel the need to talk more about this, you're more than welcome to come and see me at any time. Have a good evening." She gave him another smile and walked away. As Cutter turned in the other direction to continue on to Stephen's office, it dawned on him that he had spoken in more detail about his feelings just then than he had at almost any other point in his life. It took another few minutes for him to realise that Dr Shepard had done it on purpose, and longer still to finally decide that he didn't mind.


	34. No problem

**STEPHEN**  
Cutter knocked and entered. "We ready to go?"

Stephen looked up from his desk. "Yeah, sure," he answered. "Have you got everything?"

"I don't have anything to get," Cutter replied frankly. He'd taken his watch and wallet with him through the anomaly and that was it.

Stephen nodded. "All right. Let's go." Cutter stood aside for him to move out of the office. Stephen locked the door and slipped the keys back into his pocket, and they headed out.

"Can I ask you something?" Cutter asked on the way to the car.

"Of course."

"What do you do at CARI, if you're not on active field duty?"

Stephen's mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "I do nothing. I sit at my desk. I read the reports Connor prepares, but can't make any sense of them – they're all just data curves, predictions, theories. I hear about all the creatures Jones and his men get to encounter, the people they save. I think too much. I don't need help." He stopped talking for a moment to open the door to his car and transfer himself in; Cutter obediently stood off to one side and didn't offer his assistance.

As they drove the short distance to his house, Stephen continued to talk. "I don't even know why I'm there most days. I think Claudia and Lester only kept me out of pity. I'm useless, really." He glanced at Cutter in the rear view mirror; the professor was staring out the window. Stephen felt a surge of anger that he knew wasn't directed at his old friend, but he spat the words anyway: "Are you even listening?"

"I'm listening," Cutter replied, not turning from the window.

"Any reason why you won't look at me while you're listening?"

Cutter turned his head in an exaggerated motion to meet Stephen's eyes in the mirror as they flicked up from the road again. "I'm looking now," he said.

Stephen gave a short laugh, frustrated, hurt. "Look, you asked, that's all. I wouldn't have done the whole pity party thing if you hadn't asked for it."

"Don't get angry at me," Cutter said defensively. "None of this is my fault."

"Did I say it was?" Stephen demanded. He turned a corner a little too fast, throwing himself tight against the seatbelt. "I'm sorry I brought it up, all right? I'm not asking for your pity, just... a little sympathy would be nice." He couldn't understand why Cutter was behaving this way. He'd been gone for three years, but had their friendship before that point meant nothing to him? There was a voice that was whispering in the back of his mind, over and over: _he knows, he knows, he knows_. Stephen did his best to block it out; Cutter had no reason to know anything if Helen hadn't told him, and he'd said that they'd only spent a short amount of time together. Surely, Stephen reasoned, if Cutter had known, he would have said something.

"Stephen," Cutter said levelly. "You have my sympathy. I'm sorry that this happened to you."

It was the closest thing to an apology Stephen would get from Cutter, he knew. He nodded, his eyes on the road again. "Thanks."

"No problem."

* * *

"The spare room's that one," Stephen said as they entered the house, pointing to a door at the end of the hall. "I'll get you some clothes. Are you all right with leftovers for dinner? I don't really feel like cooking."

"Yeah, sure." Cutter stifled a yawn. "Can we eat early?"

"Yeah." Stephen looked concernedly at his friend. "You all right?"

Cutter nodded. "Been a long few days."

They were quiet over dinner, each of them caught up in their own thoughts. Stephen shot a glance at Cutter whenever the other man wasn't looking, trying to discern whether or not he really did know and was just keeping it from him. He couldn't quite tell, though; Cutter mightn't have been very social, but he knew how to keep things to himself. Stephen vowed for what was probably the fifth time since Cutter had returned just to forget about it like he had for eight years while Helen was gone.

Helen. He wondered where she was. He wondered if she was all right. He wondered if she missed him the way he missed her, sometimes.

"Did you hear about Evelyn?" Cutter asked.

Stephen shook his head. "Is that the girl?"

"Yeah. She comes from another universe; she's been travelling for a while. She's told us a lot of really crucial information – only certain people can travel in between universes, for one thing. She's one of them, obviously, and so am I. I'm going to get her to look at the rest of CARI's staff over the next few days, if she can."

"How can she tell?" Stephen asked.

Cutter shrugged. "She just can. Things are different in her universe. Not everyone can see the anomalies, but she can, and she can tell who has the aura, too."

"The aura?"

"The thing that lets people travel between universes."

"Right." Stephen was silent for a few minutes, still trying to wrap his mind around the whole parallel universe idea. "You said she's been travelling for a while? Has she been by herself the whole time?"

"Yeah. She's incredibly resourceful."

"What are you going to do about her?"

That stopped Cutter for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"Well, she doesn't belong here," Stephen said. "Are you going to send her back to her own universe?"

"I... don't know," Cutter answered slowly. "She can't tell where the anomalies lead any more than we can, so it could take her years before she finds it again. And she knows a lot; she can be a lot of help to us. I think we should keep her."

"Keep her?" Stephen grinned. "Who's going to keep her? She doesn't have any family here, Cutter. Who are you going to get to look after her?"

"I will," Cutter said. The speed and simplicity of his response took Stephen aback; he'd never expected his friend to commit to such a thing. "Dr Shepard said I'm the closest thing she has to a legal guardian. Look, Stephen, I'm not going to throw a little girl into an anomaly and tell her to find her own way home. Maybe if she wants to leave, I'll let her, but if she wants to stay, I will let her do that too."

"Right." Stephen smiled to himself. He knew Helen had never wanted children, but he had always suspected otherwise about Cutter. He might have hated teaching, but he was a romantic deep at heart.

"You want the first shower?" Cutter asked abruptly.

"No, you go ahead. I'll find you some clothes and a towel."

"All right." Cutter stood up and picked up his plate to take it to the sink. "Hey... listen, Stephen."

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry about what happened in the car. I'm just... struggling a bit. With the whole timeline thing." He hesitated, and Stephen almost smiled – this was the Cutter he remembered; absolutely shocking in social situations. "Thanks for letting me stay with you. For a bit."

"No problem," Stephen replied. Cutter went to shower.


	35. Yesterday morning

**CLAUDIA**  
She left CARI right on five o'clock, which was unusual because, although she officially finished work at that time, she almost always stayed on later to finish whatever she was walking on. This time, though, Claudia was exhausted after two nights of barely any sleep, and she was going to take the evening off and do something for herself for once.

There was a pit of uneasiness deep in her stomach that had been there ever since Cutter had appeared. On the surface, of course, there was the man himself and her feelings for him – which didn't exist anymore beyond the realm of strictly professional, she told herself firmly. She was engaged to Jem Keenan, a man whom she loved very much. Jem was everything Cutter was not: a rational, soft-spoken corporate financier who enjoyed classical music and vegetarian cooking. If his conversations over dinner sometimes seemed a little dull, or his Christmas presents a little impersonal (books, always books)... well, a relationship was nothing without a little friction here and there. Though, her relationship with Jem was almost the textbook opposite of frictional; any time she expressed any sort of distaste or dislike, he would instantly remedy it with plaintive apologies almost more frustrating than the original action. She liked it that way, Claudia told herself firmly. A little dullness was a welcome contrast to all the frenzied activity she had to cope with in her job.

The job, of course, Jem knew nothing about. Claudia had always meant to tell him about the true nature of her work, but in the early stages of their relationship she hadn't wanted to scare him away, and now it would almost not be worth the effort. As she drove home, Claudia realised that Abby and Jones had it lucky, each of them knowing exactly what the other did every day, able to lean on one another if it ever got too hard. Still, Jem usually did a pretty good job of comforting her, even if he didn't know exactly what it was that had gotten her down... and she wouldn't have dated a guy like Jones for any amount of money.

Claudia pulled into the driveway and was struck by the sudden realisation that if she'd accepted Cutter's request, he'd be here with her, right now. He would have been quiet on the way home, she knew; Cutter was never one for talking, and he would most likely be just as tired as she was. She wondered, as she locked the car and turned the key in her front door, what he would think of her house. It was a smallish sort of place: one storey, two bedrooms, fastidiously tidy. There were a few paintings and photos scattered around the place, but overall it was sparsely decorated – a far cry from Cutter's own house and office, which were so full of knick-knacks she'd been overwhelmed.

"Jem?" she called, stepping through the front door. There was music playing from the stereo in the kitchen; she followed it into the room to see her fiancé peering into the oven. He smiled at her and walked over to give her a kiss. "Smells good," she said, looking through the glass. "What is it?"

"Vegie pie," Jem replied. "It'll be ready in about an hour. I figured you might want to eat early tonight, since you went into work so early yesterday."

"Thanks, Jem. That's sweet of you." Claudia kissed his cheek.

* * *

She almost overslept the next morning and was saved only by the alarm on her phone. Jem, too, was woken by the shrill sound. Before Claudia could get up, he rolled over and wrapped his arm around her. "Don't leave," he said, nuzzling the back of her neck. "You're all warm and snuggly."

_You're thirty years old and you still say 'snuggly'? _Claudia thought. "Jem, I need to go. I've got work. So do you. Let go of me."

"Fine." He sighed theatrically and kissed her neck before releasing her. She dressed and ate quickly and was out the door in twenty minutes, trying not to feel annoyed about how clingy her fiancé could be.

She had half an hour of peace in her office before it was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in." She turned, expecting Lester, and was surprised to see Professor Cutter instead, standing somewhat sheepishly outside.

"I did say come in," Claudia remarked. "You don't have to hover in the hallway."

"Thanks." Cutter entered, closing the door gently behind him. "Erm... I wanted to talk to you." He scratched the back of his neck, looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"Okay?"

"It's about yesterday. Yesterday morning."

"Right." Claudia nodded, looking away from him. "What did you want to say?"

"That I'm sorry." She was taken aback by the frankness of his words. "I was rude, and it was out of line. It's your life, and you should live it as you choose. I can't make those choices for you, and it was inappropriate of me to suggest otherwise."

He fell abruptly silent, and Claudia, glancing back at him, had to suppress a smile. _He's really not very good at this_. "Thank you," was all she could think of to say.

"That's another thing," he said, just as abruptly. "I want to thank _you _for trusting me with... with Helen. It means a lot to me that you're willing to do that."

"You're welcome," Claudia responded automatically. She then realised what she'd said, and frowned. "Lester really won't be happy if he finds out, you know."

"Why does that matter so much to you?" Cutter asked, but his tone was inquisitive, not exasperated. "Lester's not your boss anymore; he doesn't control you any more than I do. You need to do what _you _think is right, not what he or anyone else tells you." He paused. "Including me, I suppose," he added in a softer voice.

Claudia nodded. She wasn't really sure what to say to that.

"Anyway, I should get back to work." Cutter gestured towards the door.

"Right." Claudia nodded again.

"I'll see you around. Take care of yourself."

"You too."

He left, abruptly, uncertain of how to properly end such an exchange. Claudia stared at the door long after it had closed behind him. Nick Cutter was, she thought, a man far more comfortable amongst fossils and supposedly-extinct creatures than the human beings with which he lived and worked on a daily basis. His every social movement was a little hesitant, a little rough around the edges, like he was never quite sure if he was doing or saying the right thing. It almost made her nervous just to watch him. She knew, though, that beneath his rugged exterior, he had a heart that was full of a passion that scared her. She'd seen it years ago whenever he discussed a new creature or theory, and she'd seen it the previous day when he talked about Evelyn, of whom he'd become inexplicably, incredibly protective.

She'd seen it when he'd spoken to her – about Jem, about missing her for years. She saw it every time he met her gaze or said her name.

_Claudia Brown._


	36. We used to be

**NICK**  
He left the room feeling foolish and something else he could not name. He didn't know if he had said too much or too little; he wasn't actually one hundred percent sure of what he'd said at all. All he knew was that he'd been expecting... more, somehow. More of a reaction to him bearing his soul to her.

Cutter heaved a great sigh as he crossed the building to the med bay. He'd known it was important to get the apology out of the way and he was glad it was over; now it was time to throw himself into his work before he started overanalysing the conversation they'd just had. Visiting Evelyn was a good place to start – Lester, Stephen and Dr Shepard had all given him a lot to think about with regards to her, and though he didn't nearly have it all sorted out, he wanted to see her.

At the forefront of his mind was a simple question: _What are we going to do with her? _Stephen was right; she didn't belong in their world. She didn't even _exist _in their world, and Cutter had somehow ended up with the unofficial responsibility of looking after her. His first instinct was to avoid that responsibility at all costs – he could hardly look after a ward with everything that was going on – but, strangely, the more he thought about the idea, the less it terrified him. Evelyn may have been skittish, a little odd even, but she was extremely clever and resourceful to be able to survive three years travelling with...

Helen. That was as far as Cutter got before his thinking hit an unbreachable wall. No matter how much Cutter wanted to look after Evelyn, to protect her, he couldn't escape the fact that she had been in the company for his wife for several years. His distrust of Helen was immeasurable, and that had to extend in some form to the girl whom she'd taken on as travelling companion. It was so hard, though, to ever imagine Evelyn doing anything manipulative or cruel the way Helen had. She was just so... innocent.

He knocked on the med bay door, and Dr Murphy opened it with his customary smile. "Professor Cutter!" he said warmly. "Do come in. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Cutter replied. He looked over to the bed and saw Evelyn, who gave him a friendly wave. Cutter couldn't hold back a smile and waved in return.

"Have they been taking care of you?" he asked, approaching her.

"Oh yes," Evelyn replied. "Dr Murphy has been very kind. I slept wonderfully, too. It's been a while since I was actually in a bed."

"I know how that feels," Cutter said with a nod. "I need to talk to Dr Murphy for a while, then I'll come back and see you, okay?"

Evelyn nodded, and Cutter followed the doctor to the door. "Did you follow up on what I asked you about yesterday?" he asked in a low voice.

"It would be almost impossible," Dr Murphy replied with a shake of his head. "There are only five individual examples in the world. The amount of time and money required far exceeds what we have, even with Sir Lester's governmental authority."

Cutter nodded. He'd expected as much. "Have you run any tests?" he asked. "Any abnormal results?"

"No, all vital signs normal. I could take more advanced tests, but I'd need the permission of a guardian. She's only seventeen years old."

_Seventeen_. Why the hell had his wife been travelling with a seventeen-year-old girl? "Okay," he said. "No tests for now. I'll let you know if I change my mind."

"You?" Dr Murphy asked.

"Me," Cutter answered. "I'm her guardian now."

* * *

"Am I allowed to talk about her now?" Evelyn asked as the door closed behind the doctor.

"About whom?"

"You know. The one you said I'm not allowed to talk about."

Cutter paused in the act of reaching for a chair to send a nervous glance towards the door. "Yeah," he said eventually, "you should be fine." He sat opposite her as he had yesterday. "What do you want to say about her?"

"I want to know how you're related," Evelyn said.

Cutter stared at her. "How do you know...?"

"You have the same last name," Evelyn said. "Are you married?"

"It's... complicated." Cutter rubbed the back of his neck. "We used to be. A long time ago."

"But not anymore?"

"Helen Cutter's legally dead in this universe," Nick said. "I think I'm officially a widower."

Evelyn was quiet for a few moments, looking down at her hands. Cutter, watching, saw a flicker of deep emotion on her face, something he'd noticed was rare in the girl. "I wonder if I'm legally dead in my universe," she murmured. "I wonder if my parents ever think about me."

"I'm sure they do," Cutter said quietly.

"Maybe." Evelyn looked at him. She opened her mouth to speak, and then flinched, a hand moving to her temple.

"Are you all right?" Cutter asked.

Evelyn nodded, her eyes squeezed shut. "Yes. Listen! There's –"

She broke off as the alarm began to sound.

Cutter finished her sentence. "An anomaly."


	37. You're lucky it's only a baby

**ABBY**  
"Oh my God, is that another one?" The two of them exchanged glances as the alarm began to ring out over the building.

"Guess it must be," Jones replied.

"We're popular. What is it, three in three days?" Abby shook her head. "They've never appeared this frequently before. I don't like this."

"You're not regretting your transfer already, are you?" Jones teased.

"What? Of course not." Abby punched his shoulder gently. "I had fun yesterday. Let's go suit up, yeah?" They made their way to the fieldwork supply room, where most of the team were already getting into gear. In a few short minutes they were dressed, armed, and ready to roll.

"What've we got, Temple?" Jones asked Connor as they approached the ADD.

"Someone's basement, it looks like." Connor's fingers flew over the keyboard as he spoke, pulling the address up on the screen. "Doesn't look like there's anyone at home at the moment, but if something comes through and wrecks the place, it could take a bit of explaining." He turned and saw Abby standing next to Jones. She watched his face fall almost comically. "You're going with him?"

"Yeah. I work in Fieldwork now, Con."

"Make sure you take care of yourself," Connor said quietly.

"Of course." Abby turned to Jones. "Shall we?"

He grinned at her. "Yes we shall."

* * *

There was nobody home, so they had to break in the front door. Jones kicked it open, then gestured theatrically for Abby to enter first. She giggled and stepped through the doorway, holding the tranquilliser gun tightly in her hands. The hallway was dark and cold. She flicked on the light and screamed.

In what had previously been a shadowy corner, a tiny dinosaur was huddled on the floor.

"We've got a creature!" Jones shouted.

"Shh!" Abby hissed, gesturing for the rest of the team to stay back. "He's wounded." She crept forward and knelt before the tiny animal. It had two legs, two small arms and a tail that thumped against the ground as it huddled in the corner. There was a wound in its stomach. Blood had pooled around it on the floor.

"What is it?" Jones whispered.

"I don't know," she replied quietly. "You'd better get Connor down here." She reached out a hand to touch the creature, then pulled it back quickly as it snapped at her. "You're a vicious little one," she said with a smile. "What happened to you?"

Over her shoulder she heard Jones talking to Connor on the phone. "We should take him back to CARI," she said, putting down the gun. "He's hurt. Looks like lacerations. Probably got in a fight."

"We need to cordon off the anomaly," Jones announced. "If one came through, there could be a dozen others waiting on the other side. Rogers, Hunt, search the house for any more creatures. The rest of you, with me." He marched down the hallway past Abby, a trail of soldiers in his wake.

The little dinosaur mewled piteously and Abby's face contorted in pity. "I want to help you, but you have to promise not to bite me," she told it sternly. There was a laundry hamper on the far side of the hallway; she crossed to it and pulled out a shirt, then returned to the dinosaur and reached out to gently wipe away some of the blood. It growled at her, but was too weak to protest properly. The wounds were deep. Abby bit her lip.

Footsteps outside alerted her to Connor's arrival. She turned around and hissed for him to be quiet, then beckoned him over. "We need to get him back to CARI," she said. "He won't last long without proper care. Come over here, Con. He's too weak to attack you."

Connor shook his head, standing way back as he stared at the dinosaur. "No way. Abby, that's a _Megalosaurus_," he said. "Do you know how dangerous those things can be? You're lucky it's only a baby. They were one of the most fearsome predators in the Mid-Jurassic." He swallowed. "You should get away from it. What if its mum decides to pay us a call?"

The words were barely out of his mouth when there was a scream from below.

Immediately, the radio on Abby's vest sprang to life. "We've got company!" she heard someone yell, and, "Get the hell away from it!" and, "It's huge!" and then another scream. Abby looked up at Connor, who gestured frantically for her to get up and get away. "Abby," he said urgently, "if that's an adult _Megalosaurus_, it could be nine metres long. We need to get out of here."

"No way," Abby answered, snatching up her tranquilliser gun. "Alex is down there. I'm going after him."

"You can't!" Connor grabbed her arm. "Unless you've loaded that thing with enough juice to knock out an elephant, it won't do anything except make it angrier. Abby, it's too dangerous. You need to stay away."

"Get off me, Connor!" Abby said, shoving off his grip. "This is my job now."

"Fine," Connor said desperately. "Then I'm coming with you."

"Don't be ridiculous," Abby replied, checking that the gun was loaded properly. "You're not even armed! You should stay here and look after the baby."

"How?" Connor demanded. "Abby, I know nothing about caring for a baby dinosaur. I want to make sure you're safe, so I'm coming with you."

She stared at him for a long moment, her mouth slightly open in shock. "Damn it, Connor," she said at last, exasperatedly. "Fine, but stay outta my way, and don't do anything to get us killed."


	38. Shoot it

**CONNOR**  
He tried not to look scared as they made their way slowly down the hallway of the house. Abby's radio – in fact, the whole house – had fallen silent, so they had no way of knowing what was waiting for them in the basement, but Connor was assuming the worst. He wondered if Jones was dead.

There was a sudden roar and he jumped a foot in the air. Footsteps sounded on the timber floor and they were joined by two of the Fieldwork men from a room to their right. "What is it?" one of them asked in a low voice. The stairs leading to the basement were just around the corner.

"Probably a _Megalosaurus_," Connor replied in a whisper. "Like a T-rex, but with bigger arms."

"What happened to the others?"

"We don't know," Abby said, her voice strained. Connor, looking at her, was shocked to see that she was blinking back tears. "Hunt, did you find any more?"

"No," Hunt replied. "The rest of the house is clear." The two men checked their guns just as Abby had. "Are we going down there?"

"Yes," Abby said determinedly. Connor shot her a pained glance, but she pretended not to notice.

"All right then. Rogers, take the rear." They moved into position, sandwiching Abby and Connor between them. Connor did his best to put on a brave face, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult. His heart was racing, his throat dry. He hadn't been this terrified in a while.

Another roar echoed up the stairs and this time was followed by a set of lumbering footsteps that did not belong to a human being. "It's coming up the stairs!" Hunt yelled from in front. "Get away from the wall!"

They ran backwards seconds before a dinosaur crashed through the plaster right in front of them.

"Oh my God," Connor said weakly, staring at the enormous creature. He had been right – it was at least nine metres long. As it bared its teeth in a third roar, Connor saw that they were long and sharp and stained with blood. He pushed Abby behind him, flattening her against the wall. "Shoot it!" he yelled to the Fieldwork men.

The two soldiers opened fire. Their guns were not tranquillisers like Abby's; they were proper rifles, loaded with bullets that tore into the dinosaur's flesh. They could just as easily have been loaded with paintballs, though; the _Megalosaurus_ flinched backwards a little, but it didn't fall. Instead, it charged forward and lunged for one of the soldiers. _Rogers_, Connor remembered his name was, less than a second before half the man's body disappeared into the mouth of the dinosaur.

All three of the rest of them screamed.

"Retreat!" Hunt yelled. Connor didn't need to be told twice; he grabbed Abby's wrist and the two of them ran, tearing down the hallway as Hunt brought up the rear. The _Megalosaurus _charged after them, shaking the foundations of the house with its every step. It could barely fit into the cramped hallway, knocking paintings and mirrors from the walls as it ran. And it was gaining on them.

Connor heard the second soldier's scream as the dinosaur's teeth tore through him, but he didn't turn to look. He was almost sobbing as he pulled Abby through the house, his mind utterly blank with fear but for one thought: _Get the hell out_. He could see the front door only metres away, a tiny rectangle of light, of safety, growing ever closer.

They reached it, ran through, collapsed down the front steps, rolled into the yard, stumbled to their feet again, looked over their shoulders. They were alive.

"Oh God," Connor choked out. "Thank God –"

The _Megalosaurus_ charged through the front door after them.

_It's not fair_, Connor thought despairingly, forcing his exhausted body to move. "Come on!" he shouted to Abby, himself already halfway across the yard. For a reason Connor couldn't comprehend, Abby wasn't moving._ Is she hurt?_ he thought, turning at the edge of the yard to run back to her. Her back was to him and she was struggling with something –

_The gun_. "Abby, no!" he screamed, the words scraping against his throat. "Leave it! Run!"

She pulled the gun up, swung it around, aimed straight for the _Megalosaurus_ – and it knocked the weapon flying with a swing of its tail, flying across the grass... to land right at Connor's feet. He heard Abby's scream, watching her fall backwards to the ground, and he snatched up the gun – he, Connor Temple, snatched up a gun – and pointed it towards the dinosaur, fingers scrabbling against it for any sort of trigger, quite possibly holding it backwards or upside down –

The tiny dart hit the _Megalosaurus_ straight in the eye.

It shrieked and stumbled backwards, throwing its head around in pain. Connor didn't stop to marvel at his sheer blind luck; he was dropping the gun, charging across the yard, falling to his knees before Abby, taking her in his arms. She was moving, breathing even – she was alive, she was fine, he had saved her. Crying, yes, scratched up and scared, but alive. _Alive_.

"Abby," was all he could say, holding her close to him, feeling her face buried in his shoulder. He held her with shaking arms. A faraway part of him registered the sound of gunfire, and the moaning of the _Megalosaurus_, and an otherworldly crash as it fell to the ground. He watched as Captain Jones and half of his men emerged from the wreckage of the house to run towards them. _How...? _he thought blankly. His brain wasn't working. All he could focus on was Abby in his arms.

"Abby!" He heard Jones shouting her name and felt her move in his grip, looking over her shoulder for the source of the shout. He watched her whole face light up when she saw Jones, watched her struggle out of his arms and leap into his.

"What happened?" Connor heard her ask.

"When the thing came through it trashed half the basement and trapped us underground," he heard Jones say. "We had to shift through the rubble to get out. We lost Morley and Evans, but the rest of us are all right. What about you?"

"Fine," Abby mumbled against his chest. "You saved me." She snuggled closer to him, and Connor turned away. The tranquilliser gun lay halfway across the lawn, forgotten. He forced himself to his feet, looking over at the road as Professor Cutter finally pulled up. _Not fair_, he thought again, limping towards Cutter, away from Abby and Jones. _It's not fair_.


	39. It's my job

**NICK**  
"Professor," Connor greeted him quietly.

"We got held up," Cutter said in reply. Dr Murphy and Claudia were with him; the doctor immediately ran over to where a cluster of soldiers were surrounded a wounded man, while Claudia stayed close to the car and looked on. Cutter looked Connor over, noticing the scratches on his face and the tear in his shirt. "You okay?"

"Yep," Connor answered, turning away from him. Cutter followed his gaze and felt his mouth drop open.

"Holy God. That's a _Megalosaurus_."

"Yep," Connor said again. He scuffed his foot on the grass. "Jones and his men took it down."

"And the anomaly?"

"Still in the basement, I think. There was a baby that came through, as well, but it was wounded. I don't know if it survived."

Cutter nodded. "I'm gonna need to talk to Jones. Before I do – did you get a chance to monitor the anomaly?"

Connor shook his head. "I didn't get close enough," he said. "You know... there was a dinosaur."

"Understood." Cutter clapped him on the shoulder and moved towards Abby and Jones. "Captain," he said formally. "What exactly happened here?"

Jones slung an arm around Abby's shoulder as he turned to face Cutter. "We went down to the basement to cordon off the anomaly," he said. "When we got there, that enormous goddamn dinosaur ran through and started absolutely wrecking the place – it could barely fit in the basement. It knocked down a massive section of the ceiling and trapped us, so we had to shift through all of that before we could get back up here." He pulled Abby close to him; she wrapped her arms around his waist in response. "We were just in time."

"And who tranquillised it?"

"What?"

Cutter gestured towards the dead dinosaur. "There's a dart in its eye."

"Oh." Jones frowned. "It wasn't one of us. Abby, it must have been you."

Abby shook her head slowly, a confused frown on her face. Cutter turned his gaze on her and registered that she was shaking. "Dr Murphy," he called over his shoulder. The doctor jogged over.

"Everything all right, Miss Maitland?" he asked kindly.

"Yes," Abby whispered, holding tightly to Jones. "I'm fine. Just frightened, that's all."

Dr Murphy looked to Cutter. "It's shock," he said, "but some of the Fieldwork soldiers need me more. Take her back to CARI, let her lie down in the medical bay. I'll be there as soon as I can." Cutter nodded, and the doctor sprinted off. Cutter watched him crouch down beside a man whose arm was a bloody mess. He called over Connor.

"Professor?" Connor asked.

"Take Abby to the medical bay and stay with her," Cutter said. "There's no point in staying for surveillance; we can't get to the anomaly, and the clean-up alone will take hours of work." He looked to Claudia, who was gazing at the dinosaur.

"I don't want to go," Abby mumbled. "I want to stay and help. Cutter, there's a baby –"

"Go home, sweets." Jones kissed her forehead. "You've done enough today. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I can take care of myself," she said quietly, but followed after Connor without further argument.

"Is the anomaly still open?" Cutter asked.

"I think so," Jones answered, his eyes on Abby as she walked away. "We lost two men down there, Professor. They were caught under the rubble."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Cutter said quietly. "We need a perimeter around this house. Claudia?" he called to her. She looked over, tearing her gaze from the _Megalosaurus_. "Get the rest of the street evacuated." She nodded and pulled out her phone. "There could be more of them," Cutter continued, "even if it would take them a while to push through. Nobody goes inside the house, but we need some way of figuring out when it's closed."

"We'll send in a patrol after a few hours," Jones said.

Cutter nodded. "Okay." Jones was being oddly cooperative; it made a nice change. He supposed it had something to do with shooting a dinosaur that had killed two members of his team.

"Cutter." Claudia had approached him. "Control Division are on their way to assist with the evacuation, and to deal with _that_." She nodded towards the body of the dinosaur. "The owner of the house is a Mr Brian Burke, currently holidaying in South America. He returns on Friday, so we should be able to get this cleared up before then."

Cutter was impressed. "How'd you find all that out so fast?"

"It's my job," Claudia replied.

"Fair enough." Jones had left them to instruct his men; he watched them quietly for a moment. "They lost two men today. The basement collapsed."

Claudia shuddered, grief clear on her face. Cutter was struck suddenly by the urge to hold her, to reassure her that she would be all right, that he would keep her safe. The sensitivity and genuine compassion she had for all human life was not something she often displayed, but he saw it on her face then. He realised anew just how different she was from his wife. Helen, he could have called many things, but compassionate was not one of them.

"If you want to go, you can go," he said quietly.

She stared at him. "It's my job to stay."


	40. You could've been one of them

**CONNOR**  
They were mostly quiet on the drive back to CARI, Connor's eyes flicking back and forth from the road to the woman in the passenger seat. Abby was staring silently out the window; Connor could see the fine dust coated in her hair from the ruined house. He tried for a long time to think of a way to begin a conversation, but he couldn't come up with something that sounded sincere. Just as he decided to leave it, Abby herself spoke up.

"Hey... Connor?"

"Yeah?"

Abby turned slowly to face him, one hand at her temple. "Did you steal my gun?"

"What?"

"To shoot the dinosaur."

"Oh." They'd reached CARI; Connor killed several seconds by parking and turning off the car, then jogged around to Abby's side to open her door. "Um... I may've, yeah. Sorry. Only you were... well, in danger." He held out a hand automatically to help her out of the car, and almost fell over backwards when she took it.

"You saved my life," she said quietly.

"Well, erm," Connor stammered. "I guess Jones helped a bit. I just sort of... distracted it, that's all."

"Thank you," Abby said, folding her arms around him. Connor returned the hug, his body moving on pure autopilot as his mind squealed with childish happiness.

"You're welcome," he replied, smiling hugely.

She patted his shoulders. "You can let go now."

"Oh. Right. Yeah."

* * *

A short time later they were settled in the medical bay. Evelyn's bed was empty; the girl was nowhere to be seen. Connor wondered briefly where she'd gone before he began to fuss all over Abby, making sure she was warm enough, asking if she needed anything. "Connor, I'm fine," she said for the fifth time. "If you ask me one more time if I need another blanket, I am going to kick you out."

"Right. Sorry." Connor sat at the end of the bed, looked at Abby, looked at the wall, looked back at Abby. "So... how's Rex? Haven't seen him in a while."

Abby stared at him. "That's the best topic of conversation you can come up with?"

"Well," Connor said, "it's either that or I ask you if you've seen the latest episode of Doctor Who, but that wouldn't be a terribly interesting one, since I know you haven't, and I know you won't want me to explain it to you."

"Ha." Abby smiled. "Hey. Connor."

"Yeah?"

Her smile was gone. "I'm sorry about kicking you outta the flat," she said in a soft voice. "I should've given you more notice, at least. And I'm sorry about... you know. What happened last night."

"What? Oh." Connor looked away, feeling a blush rise to his cheeks. "No, erm... it's okay. It's my fault. Should've warned you I was coming around."

"Do you have more stuff you need to get tonight?" Abby asked. "I can help bring it 'round to wherever you're staying."

"No, it's okay," Connor said quickly. "I, um... I'll come by and get it. You don't need to go to any trouble, especially after today."

"Connor, I'm _fine_," Abby said crossly. "Look at me. I wouldn't be here at all if Cutter hadn't insisted. I'm a Fieldwork girl now, remember?"

_Yeah, I remember_, Connor thought. He didn't speak. The silence stretched on for a while.

"Rex misses you," Abby murmured eventually.

Connor nodded. "Tell him I say hi."

"Sure."

Another silence. _When did it get so awkward between us? _Connor thought. His mind could have supplied plenty of answers to that, but he wasn't really in the mood for listening to it. "I might go for a walk," he said. "Will you be okay here?"

"For the sixth time, yes," Abby replied. "I feel fine. In fact, I'm thinking I'll go back to the anomaly site if it hasn't closed by this afternoon."

"Don't do that," Connor said instantly. "Cutter wouldn't want you to, I mean."

"Cutter doesn't control me," Abby retorted. "Connor, I love fieldwork. I love being out there and actually _doing _something. It's so much more interesting than Research for me."

_Well, I'm sorry you found working with me so dull_, Connor thought. "Even if it means nearly getting killed?" Connor demanded. "Two men died today, Abby. You could've been one of them."

"But I wasn't," Abby answered. "Thanks to Alex. And you."

"But mostly Alex, huh?" Connor stood up. "Fine. I'm going for a walk. To check the detector, or something."

"Connor, wait," Abby began, but he was out the door before she could say anything else.


	41. I'll see you soon

**CLAUDIA**  
She watched as Dr Murphy helped a limping soldier to one of the cars in preparation for taking him back to CARI. There were four wounded men in total, one seriously; the medical bay as well as Dr Murphy's hands would be full. Claudia bit her lip as she turned back to remaining members of the Fieldwork Division, who were patrolling around the ruined house. Control would arrive soon, and then she would have something to do besides watch and feel useless.

"I'm gonna head back with them." Cutter spoke from just behind her, and she jumped at the sound of his voice. "Sorry," he added quickly. "Didn't mean to scare you. Will you be okay here?"

"Of course," she said. "I expect Lester will want a report."

"I'll leave that to you," Cutter said. "I left Evelyn with Dr Shepard. I want to make sure she's all right."

Claudia smiled. "I'm sure she'll be fine." _You're taking very good care of her_, she wanted to add, but she didn't know how to say it without sounding awkward. She'd been surprised and moved by how much Cutter cared for the girl; he'd never really struck her as the fatherly type.

"I'll see you soon," Cutter said, and left.

Claudia suddenly felt distinctly uneasy, and wasn't until Cutter was in the car and driving away that she realised why. Those four words had been the last he had said to her before disappearing through the anomaly in the Forest of Dean, not to return for three years. She was struck by the sudden, ridiculous urge to run after him, or jump in a car and follow him back to CARI to make sure he didn't vanish on her again. _It's fine_, she told herself, watching a car full of Control Division members pull up. _He'll be fine_.

She marched towards the car and began to dispense orders, doing her best not to dwell on her dreams from several nights ago. "We need a tarp over the body and the rest of the street evacuated," she began. "Murray, Kennedy, you take the left side; Cox and O'Mara, the right. The usual story for this kind of situation. Any trouble, send them to me." As Claudia slipped into her role as Director, she began to feel herself relax. She pushed Nick Cutter, dreams and the Forest of Dean to the back of her mind, and concentrated on her job.

* * *

The day crawled on. The residents of the street cleared out with minimal grumbling, and Jones' men maintained their perimeter in capable silence. The body of the dinosaur was cleared away to be dealt with elsewhere, but they weren't allowed to get any closer to the house, so reconstruction work couldn't begin until they knew for sure that the anomaly was closed. That frustrated Claudia, but only mildly so. Two men had already died today; she wasn't going to risk any others. She sent the rest of Control Division back to CARI.

"Claudia," someone called from behind her. She turned around to see Captain Jones. "It's been quiet for a few hours. We're going to send in a patrol to check the anomaly and recover the bodies."

She nodded. "Okay." Jones made a gesture and four men ran into the house through the ruined front door. She watched them disappear into the darkness, pushing away the unwelcome thought that they weren't going to return.

After ten minutes, though, they did. They were bearing two bodies between them... and they looked as though they had seen a ghost.

"What is it?" Jones demanded, moving forward. Claudia followed him for no reason she could think of.

"They – they were laid out," one of the men stammered. "Like they were sleeping. Not pinned under anything. Someone had moved them."

"That's not possible," Jones answered flatly. "Nobody's been inside that house."

More memories. White handkerchiefs and little blue letters. Claudia scanned the bodies of the soldiers, but she couldn't see anything that looked out of the ordinary – except that their clothes had clearly been straightened and the blood wiped from their faces. She began to feel sick. Her head was pounding. She pushed past the group of Fieldwork men and walked towards the house.

Just as she reached the front steps, someone stepped out of the door.

"Well, I never expected to see _you_ here. This must be the right timeline, then." Helen Cutter smiled and met Claudia's gaze. "Have you seen my husband?"


	42. Bring her here

**NICK**  
"I've decided something," Evelyn said.

They were sitting in Connor's office – she on a beanbag, he on the floor in front of her. They'd only been there a short while; Evelyn had spent a long time in Dr Shepard's office, and had been very quiet upon her exit. The only thing she had said was that Dr Shepard had been very kind to her and had given her a lot to think about. Cutter was concerned, but he didn't press her. Dr Shepard had said that would be best.

"What's that?" he asked.

Evelyn paused again. "I don't want to go back," she said slowly. "I want to stay here. With you."

Cutter caught his breath.

"Dr Shepard..." Evelyn tugged at the thick metal bracelet around her wrist, not meeting his eyes. "Actually, a lot of people have said that I'm very young. I know it's true, but I always liked the adventure. I liked knowing I was special, not crazy, and being able to use that power to do exciting things." She scuffed her foot on the floor. "Now, though... I mean, with Helen gone, I think it would be lonely."

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"So... I can't really go back to my own universe. I wouldn't know how to get there, and it's been a very long time – I don't think my parents would..." She trailed off, biting her lip. "Well, they think I'm dead, don't they?"

"It's possible," Cutter said gently.

Evelyn nodded. "I can't go back. I know that. It's not so bad; I've been gone for so long, I barely remember what it's like." She took a breath. "So... can I stay here with you?"

She looked at him then, nervously, and Cutter met her eyes. He realised with a stab of pure emotion that they were the exact colour as his – with the tears to match. He was crying. He _never _cried. She was waiting for an answer, though; Evelyn, this strange child from another universe, with a mystical power and eyes the colour of his own. Who wanted to stay here. With him.

"Of course," he said around the lump in his throat.

She smiled.

* * *

Their fragile peace lasted all of two minutes before Connor burst into the room.

"It's Claudia, Professor," he said, holding out a mobile phone.

Cutter frowned and stood up, taking it from his hand. "What is it?"

"You were wrong. Come quickly." Five words. She hung up. Cutter felt his mouth go dry. He slowly let the phone fall from his ear.

"Professor?" Connor prompted.

Cutter handed him the phone. "Stay here, with Evelyn. Whatever you do, keep her away from the anomaly site."

"What's happening?" Evelyn asked, rising slowly from her beanbag.

Cutter was already halfway out the door, but he turned back to look at her. "Stay here," he said urgently. "We'll talk about it when I get back."

* * *

He drove far too fast to the anomaly site, screeching to a halt in front of the ruined house and almost leaping from the car. He saw Claudia standing outside a circle of Fieldwork men with their guns up and pointed. He knew who it was they were aiming at.

"Put the guns down," he said, walking into the circle. "Helen. What are you doing here?"

She turned on him with her sharp, insincere smile. "I've missed you too, Nick. You _are _the right Nick, aren't you? Multiverse travel can be terribly complicated."

"What do you want?" he demanded.

Helen's smile didn't waver. "The girl," she said. "Evelyn. Have you seen her?"

"Yes."

"I want her," Helen said. "We've been travelling together; I'm assuming she's told you."

"Yes."

"Do you know why?"

Nick swallowed. "She has the aura."

"Very good," Helen said appreciatively. "Has she shown you the anchor? Has she shown you what's beneath it?"

"What do you mean, what's beneath it?"

"Oh, _very _good." Helen's smile widened. "Bring her here. She's not been entirely truthful with you, Nick. I'm sure you will want an explanation."

"Helen. What are you talking about?"

Helen looked over his shoulder and smiled. Cutter registered, entirely too late, the sound of another car pulling up. Already knowing what he would see, he turned. Evelyn emerged from the car, Connor from its other side, looking hopelessly guilty. "I'm sorry, Professor," he said. "She wouldn't st – oh my God." His eyes fell on Helen and widened almost comically. "It's you!"

She ignored him completely, her eyes on Evelyn as she moved into the circle of soldiers. "Hello, Evelyn," Helen said.

"Hello, Helen," the girl replied.


	43. I'm staying

**CLAUDIA**  
She could only look on as Evelyn approached Helen in the centre of the circle. The girl did not even seem concerned or even shocked; it was almost as though she had been expecting Helen to arrive. Or maybe it was simply that nothing surprised her anymore. Claudia, on the other hand, could feel her heart racing. Helen Cutter was never, ever good news.

The last time she had seen the woman, Helen had disappeared with Nick through an anomaly and they hadn't returned for years. During that time Claudia's subconscious had dreamed up innumerable things for them to be doing in that time. Helen was manipulative beyond measure; she could easily have convinced Cutter to travel through the anomalies with her, to leave Claudia behind. Cutter had sworn that wasn't true, but Claudia had been forced to ponder it for years.

And, of course, he had sworn to her that she would never be back. And now she was. Claudia should have been angry at him for that, but there was no place in her heart for anything but fear. Fear for herself and for their team. Fear for Evelyn. Fear for him.

"How long have you been here?" Helen asked the girl.

"Only a day," Evelyn answered in her soft voice. "I came from the Paleogene. I thought you must have come through, too."

Helen shook her head. "I've been looking for you for a week." She looked to Cutter and gave another of her fake smiles. "Thank you for looking after her," Helen said. "Come on, Evelyn. We can't stay."

"I'm staying," Evelyn said.

Claudia watched Helen raise her eyebrows. "I beg your pardon?"

"I'm staying," the girl said again. "I don't want to go through the sparklies anymore."

Helen folded her arms, pouting a little. "Why not?"

"I like it here." Evelyn looked to Cutter, standing by her shoulder. "Nick is nice. He's promised to take care of me."

"I've been taking care of you for years," Helen insisted. "I need you, Evelyn. With your power, we can travel through all of time, through all of the multiverse. Don't throw that away. You have a gift, and it's yours to use."

"I don't want to use it anymore," Evelyn replied stubbornly. She rubbed the bracelet around her wrist. "I want to stay here."

Claudia watched as Helen's expression moved from fake hurt to real anger. "I saved you," she said, staring down at the girl. "I took you on when no-one else would, kept you safe, showed you... infinite wonders. And this is how you choose to repay me?"

"I don't want to do it," Evelyn said. "The cutting hurt. And it was scary, sometimes."

"What's she talking about?" Cutter demanded.

Helen looked at him. "Fine, then. Evelyn. A demonstration."

Claudia moved closer to watch as Evelyn reluctantly held out her arm. She could read the girl's fear even from afar; her face was turned away, her eyes closed, and she was biting her lip. Before Claudia could process what was happening, Helen had unsheathed her knife and drawn a long cut along the girl's palm. Evelyn and Cutter cried out as one.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cutter shouted.

Helen smiled at him. "Just watch." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of material that Claudia recognised as the same strange metal that made up Evelyn's bracelet. Moving slowly and deliberately, Helen cleaned her blade on the metal. She took a step backwards, met Cutter's gaze, and dropped the metal to the ground.

An anomaly sprung open right where it landed.

Claudia wasn't the only person to stumble back in fright. Most of the soldiers moved with her, and one or two even yelled in shock. Helen only continued to smile, moving calmly to stand beside the anomaly. "You see, Nick? The aura is more powerful than any of us realise. Evelyn has the power to open and close anomalies at her will. Do you really think I'm going to let her stay here and squander that power?"

"Let her do what she wants to do," Cutter said furiously. "If she doesn't want to go with you, then she stays. What you're doing is abuse, Helen. You're harming a child. It's sickening."

"Oh, grow up," Helen said, sheathing her knife. "It hardly hurts. Believe me, Nick, if I had that power, I wouldn't need her."

"Go home, Helen," Cutter said. "She stays."

Helen laughed. "With you? You've gotten soft, Nick. Are you sure you're going to be able to protect her? What happens if you get yourself lost in another timeline again?"

"Go home," Cutter said again. Claudia saw that his hands were curled into fists.

Helen smirked. "Touchy subject, I see." She turned to Evelyn, who was nursing her wounded hand. "So, that's it? You're abandoning me to live out your life in one sole, dreary time period, in a world that isn't even your own? Are you sure that's what you want, Evelyn? You're a bright girl, a resourceful girl. You could do so much better..."

"I'm staying," Evelyn said for the third time. "I don't want to go with you anymore."

"Fine," Helen said, nodding slowly. She turned to the anomaly. _Yes,_ Claudia thought desperately, _go, leave us be and never come back_. Helen wasn't moving, though. She held herself absolutely still for a moment, her eyes pinned to the anomaly – and then threw herself to one side.

If she had not moved, the future predator would have landed right on her.


	44. Behind the house

**NICK**  
He didn't even have time to shout. The moment the predator had come through the anomaly, Cutter was stumbling backwards, pulling Evelyn with him. He threw a hand over Evelyn's mouth as they fell to the ground, remembering what little they knew about these creatures. One of the Fieldwork men, though, wasn't as clever or as lucky. He let out a shriek, and the predator was on him.

Helen was already up with her knife out; Cutter pulled Evelyn to her feet and dragged her in the other direction as the predator, towards what remained of the house. "Quietly," he hissed in her ear. "They're as good as blind, but they hunt through hearing." Only when she nodded did he take a hand from her mouth, and the two watched in horror as the scene unfolded.

"Shoot it!" Captain Jones was shouting, once it was clear that the man under attack could not suffer any further if they missed. His men opened fire, but the predator moved with the lightning speed Cutter remembered, emitting its hideous _crrrrk_. It ran for shelter behind the low front wall of the yard, then darted behind one of the cars parked on the street.

"Don't let it get away!" Cutter yelled. If the predator escaped into greater London, utter destruction would follow. He saw Connor standing, petrified, beside the car behind which the predator was lurking, but it chose to move the other way, in pursuit of another of the soldiers. The sound of gunfire wasn't quite enough to mask the soldier's screams as he fell, nor the choking way in which they were silenced as the predator's claws tore into his throat. Beside him, Evelyn was pressed against the wall of the house, her eyes hopelessly wide with pure fear.

"Shoot it!" Jones bellowed as the predator dived for a third man. Cutter watched Connor fall into a crouch by the car, making himself a smaller target; he saw Helen pressing herself against a tree with her knife in her hand. The remaining Fieldwork men had their guns up and firing, but the creature had moved away once more, this time aiming for –

_Claudia Brown_. She screamed and stumbled backwards, falling to the grass as the predator landed just in front of her, croaking its terrible cry. "_Nick!_"

He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled as loudly as he could. The piercing sound made Evelyn flinch beside him and, miraculously, the predator turned from menacing Claudia to fix its near-blind eyes on Cutter instead. "Oh God," he gasped, casting hopelessly around for any sort of weapon. "Evelyn –"

The predator screeched as bullets tore through its flesh, and leapt right over Cutter to scramble onto the roof of the ruined house. Cutter spun around to keep it in his field of vision, watching it effortlessly avoiding hails of bullets from the soldiers' guns. It was distracted; he looked over to Claudia, who was still lying on the grass. "Stay here," he said to Evelyn, and ran across the yard.

He knelt beside Claudia, reaching out to help her sit up. "You okay?"

She clung to him, her face a mask of sheer terror. "Nick," she gasped, bright tears in her eyes and blood on her face – he wasn't sure whose it was. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, murmuring reassurances over and over in her ear. He could feel her heart beating against his.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay," he said, his eyes still on the predator. As he watched, it leapt from the roof into the backyard of the house; the remaining Fieldwork men, six in all, gave chase. "Connor," he called over his shoulder, "get Dr Murphy down here, quickly." There were wounded and dead men all around him and a shaking Claudia in his arms. He remembered that Helen was there somewhere, too, but she seemed very far away in many ways at that moment.

He could hear the soldiers shouting and the sound of gunfire from behind the house. Evelyn was still standing against the crumbling wall. He wanted to go to her, but he couldn't leave Claudia now. Even now, in the middle of everything, he took in the scent of her hair and the warmth of her arms around his neck. She was hiding her face in his shoulder; he could feel her breath and her tears against his skin. He wasn't sure which of them was trembling anymore.

"Is it gone?" he heard her whisper.

"Not yet."

She finally turned, scanning the scene, the tiniest frown of confusion creasing her face. "Where...?"

"Behind the house." He touched her lips with a finger to remind her of the need to be quiet, but the way she looked at him then turned it into something else entirely. He caught his breath. His finger moved to her chin, tilted it upwards. She closed her eyes.

"_Cutter!_" came the scream from behind him.

_Connor_. He looked to the house, saw the predator on the roof, watched it jump to land only feet away. There was no time to find any sort of weapon. He threw himself in front of Claudia, held up his hands –

He heard Evelyn scream, watched her throw a broken piece of brick in a truly magnificent cast, hitting the predator right between the eyes. He watched it flinch, growl, turn, jump. He heard another scream – Evelyn again, but different, interrupted – and then silence. He saw Helen's knife, another unbelievable throw, buried in the predator's neck, seconds too late. He heard another scream. His, this time. Too late. _Evelyn_.


	45. She did it

**STEPHEN**  
When the alarm went off for the first time, he didn't even bother going down to investigate. If something important came up, Connor or Abby or one of the others would alert him. The second time, though, he decided to go and see for himself. He hadn't heard anything about the first anomaly from anyone, so he'd assumed that it wasn't too big a deal.

The moment Stephen got close enough to the ADD to see the screen, he realised just how wrong he was.

"She did it," Francesca was saying, pointing to the woman on the screen. Stephen knew her; he felt his heart stop beating. "She cut the girl and then it just opened up, just like that."

Lester was looking more agitated than Stephen had ever seen him, pacing up and down in front of the screen. "She needs to be apprehended and brought back at once," he said to nobody in particular. "This is ridiculous. She cannot be allowed to –"

His voice was drowned out as several of the team members gathered around the ADD cried out as one. Stephen pushed forward to the front of the small crowd and could only watch as the predator that had appeared through the anomaly tore into the soldiers like a hot knife through butter. He saw Helen take shelter behind a tree, Connor beside a car, Cutter and the girl against the wall of the house. He watched Claudia fall, saw the predator menacing first her and then Cutter before springing away.

"I'm going down there," Stephen said, turning away from the detector. The others barely shot him a glance, glued to the detector screen and the horrors unfolding within. Stephen moved to exit CARI as fast as he could. On the way out, he passed the med bay. Abby and Dr Murphy were standing in the door, having a heated argument.

"– my patient, Miss Maitland, and as such I can't allowed you to –"

"He could be hurt! If you're going down there, why can't –"

They both broke up at the sound of Stephen coming towards them. "What's going on?" he asked Abby, knowing she would speak even if not directly addressed.

"Future predator came through the anomaly," Abby said, desperation in her voice and face. "Stephen, they're gonna need all the help they can get. And Alex is down there. I have to go to him."

"Miss Maitland, we have lost enough soldiers as it is." Dr Murphy's tone was a different kind of desperate. "You cannot be allowed to put yourself in danger in this way."

Stephen glanced between the two of them, biting back his impatience. "Whatever you decide to do, make it quick," he said. "It's not just a predator that came through. Helen Cutter is down there too, and I intend to go down and sort this all out."

"Helen?" Abby gasped. "That's it. I'm coming with you."

Stephen looked at Dr Murphy, who returned his gaze evenly as if to say, _This is your fault_. "Fine," he said eventually. "I'll get some supplies, and then we can go."

* * *

"Did Cutter call you?" Stephen asked as they waited.

Abby shook her head. "Connor did. He just said they wanted Murphy down there, soon as possible, to treat the wounded. Stephen, it sounds like it was a massacre down there." She ran her hands through her hair, shaking her head hopelessly. "If Alex got hurt – I should have been with him, I'm a Fieldwork girl now – and Connor too –"

"Abby, relax." Stephen laid a hand on her arm, staring at her intently. "I'm sure Jones is fine." He and the man might not have always gotten along, but that didn't mean he wanted him dead. "It looked bad on the detector, but he wasn't one of the ones I saw get hurt."

Abby swallowed. "How bad?"

Stephen shook his head. "Let's just get down there as soon as possible, and then we'll see."

* * *

Dr Murphy seemed to take forever, though Stephen knew it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. Soon they were on their way to the anomaly site, the doctor driving, Abby beside him, Stephen in the back. None of them spoke, and the tense silence did nothing to allay Stephen's fears.

Most of them were very rational – he was worried for the safety of Cutter, Connor, Claudia and the Fieldwork men. He had seen firsthand the damage a future predator could do, and from what he'd managed to catch on the detector screen, a lot of men had been hurt or killed. He was worried, slightly less rationally, for Helen's safety as well, even though he knew she could take care of herself better than any of the others. Mostly, though, he worried about why Helen was here. She always seemed to have an agenda, and she didn't always care whether or not it interfered with other people's plans.

He worried, too, about what she would think of him.

It had been a long time. Three years on his side, possibly more or less on hers – but three years had been more than enough for him to change, physically and irrevocably. He had spent a lot of time in the early days fighting the truth, but there was no denying it; he was no longer whole, and she could hardly miss that. He knew that, if she cared about him, she would see past his wound. What he didn't know was whether or not she cared.

Finally, Stephen was worried about their secret. It had been over ten years for him, now, but the last time she had returned they had picked up almost exactly where they'd left off. If she had only appeared a week ago, before Cutter, then maybe things would have been different. But now... now it would be all too easy for her to let something slip, and just like that Cutter would never trust him again.

It wasn't that he didn't trust her. He just didn't know whose side she was really on.


	46. Wonderful things

**NICK**  
He ran to her, faster than he had ever run in his life. She was slumped against the wall of the house, unmoving; he collapsed by her side. There was a lot of blood. It had slammed her against the bricks and slashed at her skin. She was still breathing, though, still fighting to keep her eyes open. He watched as she registered his presence beside her, and her eyes moved up to meet his.

"Nick..."

"Yes," he managed to gasp, his hands moving to cup her face, to brush the blood away from under her eyes. "It's okay. Don't worry, the doctor will be here soon, he'll make you better, it'll be okay –"

She shook her head, scrunching up her eyes against the pain. "... dying," she managed to whisper. "Take... Here." She forced her eyes open. Her left hand moved across to the anchor at her wrist, and she unclasped it and held it out to him. "... might need it. Stay safe..." He saw, on her wrist, a dozen neat, tiny scars, and felt a surge of hot anger towards Helen. Almost as if she could sense it, Evelyn whispered, "... not so bad. She took care of me. I saw... so many wonderful things..." She began to cough, wincing with each movement. "Here." She pressed the metal ring into his palm; he folded his hands around hers, trying so hard to stop the trembling. There was a bead of blood on her lower lip.

"Wonderful things," she repeated, struggling to keep her eyes open. "Don't... regret..." Her tears tracked a path through the blood on her cheeks, but she forced herself to meet his gaze. "Goodbye," she whispered. "Thank you for... taking care of..."

"Evelyn," he choked out hopelessly, his grip so tight on her hand his knuckles turned white.

She looked away from him at last, turning her gaze up to the sky. A tiny smile lifted up the corners of her mouth. "It's sparkly," she whispered, and was still.

* * *

He heard Claudia approach, felt her hand on his shoulder. Connor came up on his other side. He heard the low rumble of an engine as Dr Murphy pulled up. He laid Evelyn down on the grass and brushed her eyes closed. Then he clasped the anchor around his wrist and stood up to face his wife.

"It's a pity," Helen said, leaning against the house a little further along. "She was clever enough, for a child."

"You did this," Cutter said furiously. "All of this – this is _your _fault. If you hadn't come back and tried to drag her along with you, all of these people would still be alive." He was shaking with anger and frustration and sorrow. "Did you do it on purpose?" he demanded. "Did you bring the predator through to kill us all?"

"I'm not a murderess, Nick," Helen said with a smile, walking slowly up to him. "What reason would I have for wanting the girl dead? I need someone with her power."

"To do what?" Cutter spat. "To cut open whenever you feel like it? To use as your slave?"

"I protected her," Helen retorted. "I kept her safe for years. If it weren't for me she'd have been dead a thousand times over."

"If it weren't for you, she'd still be alive now!"

Helen stared at him. "Why do you care, Nick?" she asked quietly. "Who was she to you? Some girl who stumbled through an anomaly and needed someone to take care of her. What were you going to do, adopt her? She doesn't belong here any more than this does." She nudged the body of the predator with her foot, reaching down to pull her knife from its throat.

"Why her?" Cutter asked. "Why did you take her?"

"Because she had the aura," Helen replied, wiping the blade clean on her clothes. "She had absolute control over the anomalies and I needed that. Beyond that, she meant nothing to me. She just happened to be in the right timeline at the right time."

He shook his head hopelessly. "She was a tool to you."

"Perhaps." Helen sheathed her knife. "What does it matter now, Nick? I kept her safe, I fed her, I saved her from creatures a hundred times. I wasn't cruel to her, whatever you may believe. She gave her blood willingly to open the anomalies, and only when there was no other choice. If we hadn't been separated, she would have been quite happy to travel with me forever." She shrugged. "These things happen. It wasn't my doing. Believe what you like, but I'm not evil."

Cutter turned away from her, unable to respond to that. Claudia was standing close behind him, watching on in silence. Connor had moved away to instruct Dr Murphy, who was treating one of the wounded soldiers. Abby had come with the doctor; she was embracing Captain Jones. The only thing that surprised him was the presence of Stephen, watching from a short distance away. He hadn't expected Stephen to come. Maybe he'd heard that Helen was there. That would make sense.

"Look, just go home," Cutter said, turning back to Helen. "Go away. You came for Evelyn and now you –" His voice caught in his throat; he swiped at his tears furiously and went on. "You can't have her, so there's no point in you being here anymore."

"Oh, but there is," Helen replied.

Cutter felt a fresh wave of dread wash over him.

"I need someone with the aura, Nick," Helen said slowly. "I need someone with that power." She took a step towards him. "You have it. Come with me."

He stared at her. "You're crazy," he said flatly.

"Am I?" She smiled at him. "It's true. We both know it. How else could we have crossed into the alternate timeline? Surely you haven't forgotten. I daresay you were quite distressed when you found out..."

Cutter felt the urge to physically hurt her and had to take a step back to keep himself from doing something stupid. "Get out," he said again.

"Not unless you come with me."

He shook his head, disgusted. "Not a chance." He turned away from her and stalked over towards Connor and Dr Murphy. He was done with Helen. He would be quite happy if she disappeared through an anomaly and he never saw her again.

"I guess I'll have to persuade you," she called to his back. He smiled at that. There was nothing on Earth that she could do that would convince him to –

There was a scream. Too late, he realised and turned. Claudia had not followed him when he had walked away. She was standing close to Helen now... far too close. His wife had one arm wrapped around her body, pinning her arms to her sides. The other holding her knife to Claudia's neck.


	47. Step through the anomaly

**CLAUDIA**  
"Let go of me," Claudia gasped, her horrified eyes trained on the knife. She'd been about to follow after Cutter when Helen had moved – faster than Claudia had thought it possible; almost as fast as the future predator. She held herself perfectly still, not wanting her skin to move any closer to the sharp threat of the knife. She could feel Helen's steady breath at her ear.

"It's very simple, Nick," Helen called out. "You agree to come through with me, I let her go. You continue to spurn me, she gets the pleasure of coming along instead."

"Let her go!" Cutter shouted, advancing on them. Helen's response was to bring the knife closer to Claudia's neck; she whimpered and held her breath, flinching away.

"No closer," Helen said calmly. Cutter stopped dead. "And you," she added, looking over to where Captain Jones was clutching his gun, "put that down, unless you want her dead." Jones lowered the weapon slowly, then dropped it to the ground.

"Why are you doing this?" Claudia gasped.

Helen sighed. "It's very simple," she said. "I need Nick to come with me. I know he considers you more important than me – never mind the fact that I am his wife – so I thought this was the easiest way to do things. I'm not going to hurt you, if he co-operates. I'm not cruel. You'll recall, Claudia, I saved your life once."

"Seems things have changed," Claudia answered, trying to shallow her breathing, so her neck didn't brush against the knife every time she inhaled.

She saw Helen's razor of a smile out of the corner of her eye. Cutter was watching with absolute horror on his face. "Let go of her," he said again, his voice shaking. "Helen, whatever's between us, whatever twisted plan you're hatching, she has _nothing _to do with it."

"'Whatever's between us'?" Helen repeated. "I would say she has a great deal to do with what's between us, Nick. It would even be accurate to say that _she _is the one between us." Her smile vanished as quickly as it had come. "You and I could do such wonderful things, but you choose to throw it away to stay behind with this girl." Claudia closed her eyes, feeling the coolness of the metal knife against her skin. "You're as bad as Evelyn. I see where she got it from."

"Don't talk about Evelyn," Cutter thundered, taking another step forward. "Don't you dare –"

He broke off as Helen moved towards the anomaly, pulling Claudia roughly along, ignoring her protests. "We'll do it this way, then," Helen said. "Step for step. I warned you to come no closer."

Cutter slowly held up his hands. "What do you want me to do?"

"Step through the anomaly," Helen replied, her voice as steady as her hold on the knife. "You're wearing the anchor, so there's no chance of inter-universe travel. Once you have stepped through, I will leave the rest of your friends be and come with you. It's a promise, Nick. I won't bother your dear Claudia ever again... unless she's foolish enough to come after us."

Claudia watched Cutter's chest heaving with every breath, his anguish clear on his face. A promise of Helen's could hardly be trusted, but Claudia knew she was considering it for the sole reason of keeping Claudia safe. "If I don't?" he asked, his hands in fists by his side. "Can't you take someone else?"

Helen tilted her head. "I could," she said slowly, "but who knows what dangers lie on the other side of the anomaly? I can't guarantee Claudia's safety, and in the time that it takes for me to find another companion... Well." She shrugged, her smirk returning. "If that's a risk you're willing to take, Nick, then so be it. I'm sure Claudia will understand."

His eyes snapped to her; she did her best to hide her fear, but knew she wasn't doing a very good job. She didn't want him to go with Helen any more than he wanted to go himself, but nor did she want to be dragged along. Her gaze moved to the other people who were clustered around the yard, looking desperately for some way out of this mess. Stephen was just behind Cutter, his expression stunned; Jones and Connor had both stepped protectively in front of Abby; Dr Murphy was watching with a wary gaze as he crouched beside a wounded man. The rest of the soldiers were dead, their weapons lying beside them. Nobody was close enough to grab Helen or help Claudia in any way. She felt hopeless, frightened tears pool in her eyes. Either she or Cutter were going to step through the anomaly with Helen, and she was quite certain that they would not return.

"Well?" Helen snapped.

Cutter met her gaze, and Claudia saw the resignation on his face. "Let her go, and I'll come with you," he said. His voice was flat.

"Nick, don't –" Claudia began, but Helen cut her off before she could get any further.

"After you," she said with her vicious smile.

Cutter took a step towards the anomaly. Claudia began to struggle, pushing against the arm around her body. "Don't do it!" she shouted. "Nick, you'll –"

She broke off with a choked cry as Helen jammed her wrist against Claudia's windpipe. "Quiet," Helen said, her voice calm as ever. "My husband has made his choice."

"He didn't do it for you," Claudia whispered, her eyes meeting Nick's once more. She could read it there, clear as a book, even through her tears – he wasn't going with Helen because he wanted to go with Helen, but because he wanted to save Claudia from whatever waited on the other side. "Nick, wait," she said desperately. "There has to be some other way –"

"No," he said forcefully, before she could say anything more, before Helen could silence her again. "Let me do this." His voice did not shake as he spoke directly to her, staring intently into her eyes. "You have people here who need you. Stay with them."

"What about you?" she asked hopelessly, struggling again, heedless of the knife, of Helen, of everything. He was shaking his head. _I need you_, she thought desperately. _Don't leave me again. Not again_. He took another step towards the anomaly, and another. Helen's arm held her as a vice, her wiry frame belying her incredible strength. Claudia could not break free no matter how hard she tried.

"Go on, Nick," Helen said quietly.

He was three steps away from the anomaly, two, one. He looked back at Claudia and swallowed. She shook her head furiously, weeping, struggling against Helen's grip. God, how did this woman get to be so strong?

"Claudia," Nick began softly, but somebody interrupted him.

"Wait." Stephen moved forward, slow and awkward over the uneven grass. "Helen. Take me instead. I have the aura."


	48. There's nothing left for you here

**STEPHEN**  
The moment she turned to him, he knew this had been a terrible idea.

Stephen watched Helen's gaze move over him, taking in every inch of his body – but most especially what was missing. She was looking down on him, of course – everyone did – and there was shock on her face, but no sign of pity. He hated pity from most people, but he would have liked at least some trace of sympathy from her.

"You?" she asked quietly, her tone surprised. Claudia had fallen still in her grip; Cutter was watching him with an intense look on his face. Glancing at him, Stephen was struck once again with the suspicion that he _knew_. He pushed it away and met Helen's gaze. He was doing this for Cutter and for Claudia. Nick would thank him, if he ever saw him again.

"Me," Stephen replied evenly. "Evelyn could tell who did and who didn't, and I do."

Helen blinked, absorbing this information slowly. "She _could _tell," she agreed quietly, "and you have the eyes for it. But how can I trust you?"

Stephen looked at Cutter, who returned his glance with that same intensity – eyes dark, lips pressed tightly together. Stephen looked away to Helen and then back, feeling the cold weight of certainty settle around his shoulders. There was only one thing he could do to get them out of this, and it was going to crush Nick even as it saved him.

"Because," Stephen said, looking away from Nick and into Helen's eyes, "I love you, and I would never lie to you."

He saw Helen's eyes widen and heard Abby's sharp gasp. He watched a frown crease Claudia's forehead and then vanish as she came to understand. Reluctantly, against his will, Stephen turned to look at Cutter. He watched the man close his eyes, swallow, and then open them again. When he did, the intensity of his gaze was gone. _You knew_, Stephen thought, watching him. _All this time, ever since you've been back, you've known_. He wanted to ask Cutter why he had never said anything; he wanted to apologise; he wanted to try to explain why he was doing this now, to save him. There was no time, though. He had taken Helen by surprise, and he needed to act on that, before he lost his chance.

"I'll prove it," he added, pulling up his sleeve. He held out his arm to her. His arm did not shake. "Here."

She was silent for a long few moments, staring at the skin of his wrist. Stephen did not move or speak again, holding very still and not looking away. He could almost see the thoughts going through her mind, her expression controlled, calculating, and calm. He could be very patient. He had been a hunter, once; he had tracked animals and caught them. He knew how to set traps, and now he could only wait and see if this one would work.

Helen Cutter was no fool. He knew that she would be suspicious of what he was doing; there was no way for her to test whether or not Stephen had the aura without letting Claudia go free. He did not try to push her. He stayed silent and still. He met her eyes calmly, his arm outstretched. He felt every eye in the yard trained on the two of them.

_Come on_, he thought. _You were lonely once. You're still human. Surely that still means something to you_...

And Helen moved. Swiftly and suddenly, she released Claudia and stalked over to where Stephen was. Only then did he look away from her, to watch Claudia throw herself into Cutter's arms, watch him hold her tightly and protectively, watch them both move safely out of range of Helen and her knife. Stephen closed his eyes for a fraction of a second – _they're safe _– before he felt Helen's hand close around his wrist. He looked at her and did not flinch, not even when the knife bit into his skin. She was very gentle, not at all as she had been with Evelyn. He wondered if she still cared about him. It didn't matter, really. He had lied to her to keep Cutter safe, and she would find out as much very soon.

Helen reached into her pocket and withdrew another small piece of the special metal. He watched her transfer his blood onto the metal, working very slowly. He didn't dare look up at Cutter and Claudia, but he hoped they were very far away by now. He wondered if Cutter knew what he was trying to do, or if he simply thought that Stephen was trying to abandon them.

The knife was clean, the metal coated with blood. Helen approached the anomaly she had opened and held the metal out in her flat palm. Nothing happened. A frown settled on her face. She passed the hand holding the metal in and out of the anomaly. Nothing. She dropped it on the grass in front of her. Nothing. She turned to look at Stephen. He watched the anger settle on her face.

"You lied," she said.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Her voice broke the slightest amount on that word, and Stephen realised with some surprise that he had managed to hurt her. He'd expected Helen to be impervious to emotional pain by now. He had been wrong. He squared his shoulders, bare of regret. "You don't belong here anymore, Helen. Nick was right. You've caused enough grief."

She slapped him hard across the face. "You would have just slowed me down," she spat, and he realised how truly desperate for company she had been. "Enjoy living the rest of your life crippled, Stephen. In the future we have the technology to make you whole again, but you'll never get to enjoy that."

She looked away from him as a movement caught her eye. Cutter had knelt beside the body of one of the fallen soldiers and reclaimed his gun. He held it out now, pointed in Helen's direction. Her mocking smile returned, her last defence. "What are you going to do, Nick?" she called, taunting him. "Shoot me? You wouldn't have the guts."

Cutter was standing protectively in front of Claudia, shielding her the way Jones and Connor were shielding Abby. "Just go," he said. "There's nothing left for you here."

Stephen watched her smile slowly fade as she realised the truth of his words. Stephen was no more her ally than Cutter, and her knife couldn't compete with a gun. She looked at her husband for a long time, at the gun he held, at the woman he protected. She looked at Stephen, who met her gaze without expression. She cast her eyes all around the yard in search of a friend and was met only with hostility. She sheathed her knife. Without another word, Helen stepped through the anomaly and was gone.


	49. People died today

**NICK**  
Hours later, when they had settled the wounded in the med bay and tallied the dead, when they had reported to Lester and been rewarded with an early mark, when the two anomalies had closed and Control team moved in to start the long process of cleaning up, Cutter approached his best friend of eight years and said, "Let's go home."

Stephen looked up at him, a hundred emotions flooding his face; surprise, guilt and nervousness were at the fore. "You sure? You still want to – I mean –"

"I said, let's go." Cutter didn't wait for a response. He turned away and walked out of CARI, not stopping to speak to anyone as he passed. They kept away from him, seeing the grief plain on his face. Claudia had left to go home long ago; they didn't have enough beds to keep her in the medical bay. She hadn't said goodbye to him before she had gone.

They were quiet on the way to the car, quiet on the drive home. Neither of them knew how to break the silence, though they were both well aware of the fact that it had to be done – and soon, if they didn't want to spend the whole of the evening mute. As it happened, Cutter was more than happy to wait until Stephen had worked something out. He wasn't the most social of characters at the best of times, and he had done this before.

"When did she tell you?" Stephen asked finally as they pulled into his drive.

"In the other timeline, in front of everyone. She asked you to go through with her."

"What did I say?"

"You turned her down."

They got out of the car. Stephen didn't ask for help and Cutter didn't offer it. Moving in unspoken unison, they sat around the low dining table where – only last night – they had talked about Evelyn and Cutter's plans for her. The memory was sharp and raw in his mind, and it hurt. _Evelyn._He remembered the predator launching itself at her, remembered her scream, her last words. They would hold a funeral service for her and the soldiers who had died. Her parents, he realised, would never know. From what she'd said, they probably wouldn't have cared.

"Why didn't you say anything when you got back?" Stephen asked. "You knew. All this time, and you never said anything."

Cutter shrugged. "Didn't see the point."

"So we would have gone on forever with it just... hanging between us?"

Cutter looked up sharply. "Seems like that's what you were going for, for eight years."

Stephen grimaced. "Cutter, it happened a long time ago. I..." He sighed. "There's nothing I can say, is there?"

"I don't think so."

"Nick, listen." Stephen leaned forward imploringly. "What I said today... I did it to protect you. You and Claudia. It had nothing to do with what happened between Helen and me. I did it because I knew she wanted company and I hoped she would fall for it and give you time to escape. I would never have gone with her if it turned out to be true. I swear."

Cutter looked at him for a long time. A part of him had believed the lie Stephen had told Helen, and it many ways it would have been easier if it had been the truth and Stephen was now gone, because then Cutter wouldn't have to be dealing with this. Then again, Stephen had not ever lied to Cutter in all the years they had known each other – unless you counted keeping the affair a secret. He was sure that Stephen was not lying now, in which case he should be thanking him. It was hard, though. It had been a long day and he was still not sure if he had it in himself to forgive. Not that Stephen had ever apologised.

"Okay," Cutter said at last. "I believe you." He held out his hand over the table, the anchor on his wrist twisting the light. Stephen took it and gripped it hard, and the relief on his face was plain to see.

* * *

"You should get a prosthetic," Cutter said, later in the night. They were sitting in front of the television, but neither one of them was watching whatever was on. They were both too wired to sleep.

"I've been thinking about it," Stephen replied quietly. "Murphy offered to refer me to some people. I just never..." He sighed. "I've been in a slump, I guess. It's a lot to deal with, and it'll be a lot more work if I do get a... you know."

"It's not like you to take the easy way out, Stephen."

"Mm." Stephen glanced over at Cutter, then turned his eyes back to the TV. "Guess I've changed." He was silent for a few moments, then said, "What was I like in the other timeline? Did I... Did this happen to me there, too?"

"I don't know," Cutter replied. "I left in March – 2007." He, too, lapsed into silence. He wondered what was happening in the other timeline. He wondered if they had marked him down as missing, or if the Nick Cutter they had worked with in the years before he'd arrived had returned. It was all too hard, and he wasn't in the mood to think too much. "I think I'm gonna go to bed."

"Yeah, me too." Stephen switched off the TV, then turned to look at his friend. "Are you okay?"

Cutter returned his gaze. "Are you really asking me that?"

Stephen nodded.

"No, I'm not," Cutter answered quietly. "People died today. Claudia was almost one of them, and it was my fault."

"Don't start that again," Stephen said. "You can't blame yourself for what Helen did, Cutter."

"She's my wife."

"That doesn't mean you're responsible for –"

"Of course it does, Stephen!" Cutter shouted. "If she hadn't wanted me to go with her, she never would have grabbed Claudia. Evelyn would still be alive." He stood up, turning to walk into the bedroom where he would sleep. "I should never have come back from the other timeline. Maybe she'd've found me there, and Evelyn and Claudia would have been safe."

"Would you really have stayed away, if you'd known?" Stephen asked. "If I hadn't intervened, would you have gone with Helen to keep Claudia safe?"

Cutter ran a hand through his hair, the same thoughts in his mind now as had been then. "I wouldn't have let Helen take her," he said. "I would've done anything."

"Even if it meant never seeing her again?"

Nick was shaking. He was beyond exhausted and everything hurt; his body, his brain. He wanted to crawl into bed and sleep and never have to think of any of this again. He wanted to take it all back, to save Evelyn, to keep Claudia from the terrible ordeal she had been through that afternoon. If he could have made it otherwise, he would have – but he remembered, too, the sense of hopelessness and loss that had pervaded every day in the alternative timeline, when Claudia had not been around. He wasn't sure if he could have gone through that again, not so soon after he had found her.

"I don't know," he said, and walked down the hall into his room.


	50. Come in

**CLAUDIA**  
Time stopped for no man, not even those who knew the secrets of the anomalies, and so at nine o'clock sharp the following morning Claudia Brown arrived at CARI to begin her day. Jem had mercifully worked late last night, so she'd been able to avoid the overly concerned interrogation that would have occurred had he been around to see her get home early, her face streaked with blood and sweat and her clothes dirty and torn. She'd made herself dinner, showered and gone to bed early. When Jem had arrived she'd claimed a headache and pretended to fall asleep.

In actual fact, sleep had eluded her, as she had known it would. Claudia never slept well when she was stressed, and it didn't get much more stressful than an abduction attempt. When you compounded that with an enormous dinosaur, a house in ruins and a creature from the future killing several men and a girl, it was a surprise that Claudia got even an hour's worth of sleep. What little rest she'd managed to snatch had been punctuated with dreams of knives.

It was not surprising, therefore, that she was a zombie for much of the day, and nor was she surprised to find several of her colleagues in a similar state. Much of Control Division had worked through the night to rebuild the wrecked house and deter the curious neighbours; Dr Murphy had been looking after wounded soldiers; and Abby, Connor, and Stephen would each have been affected by the events of the previous day more than the rest of the staff. Claudia did a double-take every time she saw Stephen around CARI, now that she knew – _You slept with Cutter's wife_. She wondered how Nick felt about that. She wondered a lot of things.

She was in the midst of wondering about something particularly difficult when there was a knock on the door.

For the second time in two days, Claudia expected Lester and was surprised to see Professor Cutter instead. "Come in," she said automatically, looking away from the window to face him. He did as he was told and closed the door behind him.

When they looked at each other again, a stillness fell upon the room. There were dark rings under his eyes to match hers, a cut above his brow. He looked like hell and she didn't feel much better. He was all in black; _mourning_, she thought, and then realised, _for Evelyn_. Something squeezed at her heart. She felt taut and sad, like she wanted to cry, but was too exhausted to do so.

They broke the silence at the same time, with the same words.

"Are you okay?"

Neither of them were surprised; it was an obvious question that was at the same time impossible to answer. He shrugged. She nodded. They understood. Silence once more. It stretched for almost a minute until Claudia asked, softly, "Why are you here?"

Nick shrugged again. She could see, in his movements, a small and terrible uncertainty, like he wasn't sure of anything he did or said anymore. "I wanted to see you," he said eventually. He moved forward and took a seat in the chair on the other side of her desk. They faced each other across the polished wooden surface, papers filed in neat, ordered rows. She waited for him to speak. He took his time.

"I can't stay here," he said.

Of all the things Claudia had been expecting, this was not one. "What do you mean?" she asked him quietly, folding her hands in her lap.

"Helen wants me." Claudia flinched at the name; she saw him notice. "I'm done with her, but I doubt she's finished with me. If I stay here, at CARI, I'm putting everyone in danger – Abby, Connor, Stephen... you." He looked down at his hands, clenched together on the desktop. "If it weren't for me, yesterday would never have happened. Evelyn would still be alive." She heard his voice catch and had to look away. "Helen would never have tried to take you."

Claudia shivered, remembering the touch of cold metal against her skin. "You can't blame yourself for what happened with the predator," she said softly. "You did everything you could..."

"But it wasn't enough." Cutter's knuckles were white; he trembled with sorrow and rage. "Do you understand? Everything I did wasn't enough to save Evelyn – or you. If Stephen hadn't been there to trick her, I would be on the other side of that anomaly right now, never to see you again."

"I told you not to go," Claudia offered quietly.

He stared at her. "What else was I supposed to do? Let her take you? She could've killed you, Claudia. There was no way I was going to let that happen."

"So you would have gone."

She watched him wrestle with his thoughts, not looking at her. At last he let out a sigh. "Yeah. I would have. If it meant keeping you safe."

What did one say to that? How was one supposed to make reply to such an avowal? Would she have done the same in his place? She doubted she was brave enough. "Nick..." He looked up sharply and she realised how she had addressed him, with his first name. "Cutter," she corrected herself, and blushed. "I..." There was nothing she could say.

"That's why I have to go," Cutter said, standing up from his chair. "I'll see Lester and resign. He'll be over the moon."

"What about Connor?" Claudia asked quickly. "You were helping him with his research. What's he going to do without you?"

"He'll manage. He did so for years." Cutter turned away and began to walk to the door.

Almost before she had time to think about it, Claudia was up and grabbing at his arm. "Wait." _Don't go, stay. I think this is a mistake; I've got a really bad feeling about this_. Oh, God, the last time she had tried this, he'd disappeared for years. She wasn't sure if she could take that again. Whoever he was, whatever she felt about him, she did not want him to go. Her hand was tight on his arm. He looked up, slowly, into her face.

They moved, as one, desperate as they had been when facing a pteranodon attack or a trip into the past from which he might never return – her arms around his neck and his her waist, their mouths colliding furiously, urgently, for what was only the fourth time in as many years. Somewhere, Claudia knew, he had a wife and she a fiancé, but all of that seemed very far away now and she didn't care; all that mattered was that he was here, now, with her, and they were together, and safe. It was not a gentle kiss, it was hot and scared and sad – they had watched people die; they had almost died themselves. They had almost been parted again for what would have been forever.

In the days after Claudia was never sure of what would have happened then, had not someone knocked on the door. As it was they sprang apart as though electrified, he towards the door, she back to her desk, straightening her hair and clothes, fighting back her blush. "Come in." Her voice was high and shaking. She did not look at Nick.

"Claudia, have you seen – ah, Professor, there you are." It was Dr Shepard. She gave her gentle smile to both of them and Claudia was absolutely certain that she knew what they had just been doing. "Would you mind stepping into my office sometime, Professor Cutter? I would like to have a discussion with you."

"Uh, yeah. Sure. I was just on my way out." He glanced in Claudia's direction before leaving, but she was staring very determinedly at the wooden surface of her desk.

"Thank you," Dr Shepard replied. "Claudia, I think Dr Murphy wanted to see you, too, to make sure you're in good health after yesterday."

"Sure." Claudia nodded, still staring at her desk. She felt like a guilty child caught misbehaving. There was very much a blush on her face. She did not look up.

"Have a nice day," Dr Shepard said quietly, closing the door behind her.

Claudia let her face fall into her hands.


	51. Author's Notes

Author's Notes

So, what happens now?

Basically, I felt as though _Intimate Strangers_ was getting way too long and convoluted. I didn't want to suddenly transition from 800-word chapters to 5000-word ones, which is what I was going to have to do to tie up all my loose ends without adding another fifty chapters to an already incredibly long fic. So, I've decided to finish _IS_ up here.

Yes, there will be a sequel! What, you thought I was only going to give Click one kiss? And don't worry, Abby and Jones aren't going to stay together forever. ;) I have the name and the ending planned out for the sequel; I just need to sort out the middle. I'm going to try to make the chapters longer so there won't be as many this time around, because a fifty-chapter fic looks seriously intimidating, and I don't want to scare off all my lovely readers. That probably means I won't be updating as frequently, but don't worry; I want all my pairings to hurry up and live happily ever after as much as you do. :P

And yes, I seriously need to go back and edit the majority of _IS._ Because of the fifty-document limit (which I didn't know about until recently, or else I _definitely_ would have made these chapters longer), it's probably going to take a while, especially if I'm writing other stuff on the side, but I do need to go and tidy up a whole lot of stuff, I know. That's probably not relevant to most people reading this, since you've hopefully gotten through all of _IS_ already, but I'm just letting you know mostly so I can't chicken out later and end up never doing it.

Anyway... that's it from me! I really hope you'd enjoyed reading, and that you'll stick with me for the sequel, which will hopefully be up soon. To my most longtime readers and reviewers: you are so awesome. I probably wouldn't have finished this without your encouragement; even a simple, "Update soon!" puts a smile on my face. May your anomalies never lead you into certain death!

Much love and the odd dinosaur,  
Cee

**EDITS:** Sequel now up! It's called _Infinite Moments_. I hope you guys enjoy it. I'll be updating as often as I can.


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